Chapter 128: Striking A Deal
"Seventeen million dollars."
Juliet finished Jason’s sentence for him in a low whisper. Her eyes were slightly widened as she looked at Jason in shock. The fact that Jason was capable of carrying out the calculations in his head showed that he had a very good head on his shoulders, but what really surprised her was how close he had come to the actual amount that they would sell those crystals for. He must’ve done a lot of research before coming here!
When Juliet looked into the crystal Jason had given Fiona to show her, she already knew that the crystal wasn’t from a Red Gate. She used a magical measuring device and saw that there were nearly two hundred Magicule units in that one crystal alone, so she knew there was no way it was from a Red Gate. And if the other crystals were all in the same condition, then this could be Tenet’s single largest purchase to date!
Jason smiled before nodding.
"And that’s only from the first deal we’ll be making. Imagine what you’ll be getting after ten, twenty, thirty Gates. Your company will rise from the ashes. You are the first company I am speaking to about this deal, and if things turn out well between us in the future, then you’ll be the only one I speak to. All you have to do is agree to the terms I laid out."
Juliet was stuck in a dilemma. At that moment, she knew that what Jason said was true. Making this much money from only one sale was like hitting gold in a mine! And it would be even more amazing if they had a lot more deals like this! But the percentage that Jason was giving her was just too low! Twenty percent left a bad taste in her mouth, and as a businesswoman, she couldn’t accept being cheated out of so much money.
The second part of the dilemma was whether or not she could trust Jason. Juliet had read up on Jason’s file before arriving and she knew that he had an ocular ability that allowed him to see from far distances. How in the world did an A Rank with an ocular ability come upon this many crystals!? It just didn’t make sense that Jason would be able to get this many crystals from anywhere! The only answer that rang through Juliet’s mind over and over again was that Jason had stolen the crystals from someone. But that was even more outlandish.
The only people that would have this many crystals were the guilds and the government. There was no way an A Rank would walk into one of the S rank guilds and take all of this from them without getting killed. And it was even more impossible with the government since the Enforcers would have caught him already. The Enforcers were not to be trifled with! So then, how in the world did he get it?
Juliet asked this question to Jason with as much seriousness as possible, and Jason waved the question away.
"You don’t need to know where I got them. Just know that they are legitimate and no one else has any rights to them. It’s getting late and I need to go meet with my girlfriend soon, so I need you to give me an answer. We either have a deal or I’ll take my business elsewhere."
Juliet felt like she needed to talk to someone else about this before making a decision. Her face was perfectly calm, but on the inside, her mind was running a mile a minute as she weighed all the pros and cons of this deal. The part where Jason wanted to hide his identity wasn’t impossible to do since they could get a legal NDA and create an auxiliary route for the crystals to come from as well as a funded account with an elite bank that was outside of the government’s control. No government audit would be able to get through that, but the part where Jason wanted eighty percent was the real problem. Her business spirit would never let her make such a deal.
Juliet took a small breath before she organized her mind properly and spoke.
"Your terms sound acceptable, but there is an issue with the percentages. I believe that since my company will bear the full weight of distribution along with storage and customer retention, we deserve to have a higher percentage cut. I’ll be willing to make the deal if you agree to increase our cut to forty percent of the profit."
"You aren’t the ones going into the Gate and risking your life for the crystals. Twenty percent is more than generous."
"Mr. Jason, Tenet as a company supports more than five thousand employees across the city. They are the ones in charge of prepping and processing the crystals as well as the transportation and storage. Twenty percent is just not sufficient. How about we take thirty-five percent and I provide you with free administrative agency?"
Jason gained a small smirk. Juliet was trying to get close to him and make sure he didn’t leave the company, and she was just covering it up with free administrative agency. If nothing else, Jason had to admit that she was a good businesswoman. She understood just how valuable his business was. So Jason decided to give some slack.
"I’ll increase your cut to twenty-five percent, and in exchange, I get the chance to buy major shares from your company along with the free administrative agency."
Juliet almost choked! He wanted shares from the company!? What sort of cutthroat deal were they about to strike!? With how intensely Jason was going into it, Juliet could tell that Jason was more than confident in his ability to bring money in! And the fact that he was even asking for shares meant that he was predicting a meteoric rise in the company’s value over the next few years. Juliet bit the inside of her lip as she thought about this!
Her company was already close to dying out, and a lot of the board members were already looking into selling their shares. If this deal would allow them to rise once again, then did it matter if Jason had shares as well?
This was a large decision to make and normally, it would take a lot of debating with the board before they decided to go ahead with it. But Juliet was the daughter of the company’s president as well as a very good businesswoman. She understood that this was a once-in-a-lifetime moment that most companies would never even experience. Just like Nike had their moment with Michael Jordan all those years ago, this was Tenet’s moment with Jason Marc. Was she really going to let it slip from her grasp?
No, she wasn’t!
"I’ll agree to allow you to purchase major shares in the company, but only if you increase our cut to thirty percent. And I’ll also throw in the free administrative agency."
Jason couldn’t help but laugh slightly. He really shouldn’t be surprised anymore by what Juliet was doing. She was the sort of person to scrap and scrounge for the smallest edge in a deal no matter what, and Jason respected that tenacity. It was the same thing that had attracted him to Gina all those years ago. Gina had the spirit of a fighter and Juliet was no different.
Jason stretched his hand out for a handshake, and he saw Juliet’s face light up in pure joy as she took his hand with a wide smile! The deal was complete and Jason now had a way to sell his crystals without government intervention.