Everything was falling into place for Max, and he was getting ready to walk out the door, he knew that the desperation would kick in for Karen at some point, that she would realise what she was missing, but just as Max was going to step out, Karen had shouted at him.
"So you did all of this for money in the end!" Karen shouted. "I would have paid you for your work, you didn’t have to... you didn’t have to buy my department store from me!"
Her voice cracked slightly at the end. It wasn’t just anger anymore. It was frustration mixed with regret.
Max turned around, in a lot of ways Karen looked pitiful, but he remembered what type of person she was. How she had mistreated him even when he was in the new body he was in.
How many times the old Max must have been abused and shunned by her, and it looked like it wasn’t just Max she treated this way, just a look at the employee by her side with the red faced cheeks showed a lot.
The staff member kept their head lowered, not daring to speak.
"Do I need to remind you, it is now my department store?" Max replied. "And really, do you really think if I had asked for 300 million at least in order to go up against the Gilt Rats you would have paid it?"
His tone wasn’t mocking. It was matter of fact.
Karen retreated for a bit, because she knew the honest answer. She would have never thought that getting rid of the Gilt Rats would be worth that much. Even if she did get to keep the store it would have always been on her mind it was just a waste of money, since she didn’t physically get anything out of it, and that was just the type of person she was.
Money spent had to show something tangible.
Profit. Growth. Expansion.
Paying to remove a threat would have felt like throwing it away.
"Right, you would have thought I was crazy to ask for that much." Max said. "Can I ask you, do you regret selling the building?"
The question, caused Karen to stand up right slightly and lift her head.
"That’s a stupid question to ask, I had no choice, I never wanted to sell the building in the first place."
There was no hesitation in her response.
"Well, it’s like you said, I was only in this for the money." Max answered. "What I said was truthful, If you want to buy it back off me, I’ll set it for the market price to you, eight hundred million.
"It will all be yours. Of course, it means nothing if the Gilt Rats aren’t gotten rid of, so we can sign a contract.
"We’ll do this sale privately, it all goes to you once I get the funds. The Gilt Rats and Rum, will still think it’s under the Billion Bloodline Group, we’ll get some headlines to be displayed so everyone will be sure to know of it.
"No one would guess that it was sold right after being bought. They will bring their attention to me, and I will get rid of the Gilt Rats.
"I’m even happy to put a contingency, if the Gilt Rats continue to mess with your business after it’s gone back to you. If they are proved to be the cause of disturbances again, then you get your money back."
Each sentence was structured. Planned.
This was the plan that Warma and Max had set up, and in the hard times it was the dash of hope that Karen needed. Even if the idea was completely farfetched considering she had just sold the department store a few moments ago.
The situation was absurd.
She had signed the papers.
She had let it go.
And now she was being told she could have it back.
This was the type of crazy life that Max was living in right now, and it was no different from some of the deals that took place in the Underworld. One second one group would have the complete upper hand, and it could flip just like that.
Control was temporary.
Power shifted.
"But there’s one thing I have to make sure of, the fund needs to be sent over before I do anything. All of this, everything I have done is for money... think of it this way, Money has solved your problems many times before right, it’s the same thing just a lot higher fee this time." Max declared.
He didn’t sugar coat it.
He didn’t pretend it was noble.
If he wanted to go up against The Gilt Rats, if they were going to fight him, then Max needed that money, he needed it fast as well.
Three hundred and fifty million was already tied up.
If conflict broke out now, liquidity mattered.
Because with what they had just done, there was a good chance they had already angered the Gilt Rats to the point where they were ready to attack.
"Alright, so I just have to find some way to come up with the eight hundred million, and then everything will be fine right!" Karen asked.
There was disbelief in her tone.
Eight hundred million.
It was the number she herself had said.
"Right."
Max knew from looking at Dennis financial sheet where he had tracked everyone finances, that Karen didn’t have enough money to cover, but from speaking to Chad, he knew there was one person in the family that did whatever her mother asked, who had access to quite a bit of money still, Bobo.
The pieces were lining up.
Karen would need help.
And help would come at a cost.
Without meaning to, Max was moving up the ladder of becoming the next heir of the Stern Family.
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