Karen couldn’t help but grind her teeth at the situation, now she knew who was behind it all, why would she want to sell the building to him. She wanted to sell it to anyone but him. The very thought of handing over everything she had built, everything she had worked for, directly into his hands made her stomach twist.
Yet, there was an issue, he was the only one that was in the room currently. The empty chairs around the long boardroom table only made that fact more obvious. All the supposed interest, all the calls her lawyer had mentioned, and yet there was only one man sitting there.
"Since I’m the only one here I can offer any amount of money right?" Rum said as he started to laugh again, he was enjoying this situation. His fingers lightly tapped against the armrest of the chair as if this was some kind of game.
"Hey and why is your assistant so red faced? I heard you were a right bitch but I didn’t realise you were taking your employees as well." Rum said. "Isn’t that just going to be another law suit to add to the list of problems, if that’s the case I will take that into account when putting in my offer."
Veronica lowered her head further, her cheek still burning. Karen’s jaw tightened even more. The humiliation of the moment was thick in the air.
Seeing him laughing, that’s when something else clicked inside as well.
"You, was it you!" Karen said.
The others thought she was accusing him right to his face that he was the one behind everything but that was pretty obvious and wouldn’t amount to anything. Still, she needed to hear him deny it, or confirm it.
"Were you the one that forced it so no one would turn up today. Did you threaten all of the other potential buyers?" Karen asked.
Now the lawyer was also making sense of what could have occurred. A bidding war would certainly put the price up, and with everything the Rum foundation had done so far, why would they not go this far to do the same. The silence from the other companies suddenly didn’t feel like coincidence.
"Does it matter, the thing is, they won’t be putting any bids up anyway, so why don’t we hurry and get all of this resolved." Rum said. "Now I am a fair man, I won’t make a ridiculous offer.
"But I do like I said before have to take into account, every single thing that is happening and happened. There are major costs to this place, and vendors don’t even want to be in this store anymore. I’m taking on a lot of risk buying this place.
"So I have one offer and no other negotiation."
Rum then placed his hand up, and showed three fingers.
"Three hundred, are you saying three hundred million, are you crazy!" Karen shouted at the top of her lungs.
Her voice echoed through the boardroom, bouncing off the glass and polished surfaces. She stood halfway from her seat without even realising it.
She wondered how did Rum foundation manage to have that much cash to buy a place? They had spent a lot on their own department store and money was tied up in building new construction for their departments.
But that was another question, the reason she was truly shocked was more so the offer that had been placed.
"Even with all of the issues, three hundred million is just too low." Karen said. "The place is worth at least 800..."
"Was worth at least 800." Rum said. "Do you not remember what we just talked about, do you think anyone else is willing or has the capital to make this place grow?"
For Karen this was a major sting. She had spent around six hundred of her finances given to her by her father on the department store, the surrounding areas, attracting customers, and she had sunk a further hundred into her fashion brand.
Still it seemed rather worth it, since the department store was valued at above the money she had put in it, but what Rum said was right. If there was only one bidder, one person willing to buy it, that was the only real offer on the table.
She was now going to be selling the whole thing at a loss.
Karen had managed to get her finances in a stable place even starting to make some money in areas, and she had 490,000 million left. However after all of the issues, spending on trying to keep clients and cutting extra contracts even paying a particular group.
Her money had dwindled down to 420,000 million. Although selling the place for three hundred million would give her more cash.
It was barely enough to do the same thing she had once done, and the question was if she could even do the same thing twice. Since it had been years since the department store had been created there was a chance that the cost would be even more heavy bearing.
Part of her belief of willing to do this, was she thought deep down that maybe she could try again, but now she realised that wasn’t possible. The market had changed. The competition had grown stronger. She no longer had the same momentum she once had.
"IF you don’t accept this offer, you can use your own money to fix your problems, but there is a chance, a very good chance, that even more problems will start to pop up. You should sell Karen, this is your only way to a good life." Rum claimed.
The confidence in his tone made it clear he wasn’t bluffing. He leaned back comfortably, as if he already owned the place.
Tensing her fists, she had to bite her lip and while looking down she heard the door swing open again.
"I’m not too late am I?" a robotic voice said, a voice that Karen had heard quite a few times.
When she lifted her head she could see him, the Chairman of the Billion Bloodline group.