บท 25: Innocent Little Lie
"Are you crazy?" Matt asked, surprised. "You want to borrow for this… boutique hotel?"
"Yes." I said calmly. "There's no other way for me to get the money for this venture."
"Dude." Matt scoffed. "You don't even have anything valuable enough to support a project of this size.".
He laughed before pausing, his eyes opening wide in realization.
"Don't tell me…" His eyes snapped to me. "Cooper Real Estate?"
"Yup." I nodded. "I have an asset worth seventy million dollars. If that isn't enough to secure a loan I don't know what is."
"I know I've asked this before but…" Matt took a deep breath. "Are you crazy?!"
He stood, walking closer to me.
"Bro, that's your inheritance. You can't just wager your inheritance on something that might not work."
"It will work." I assured him calmly.
"No it won't!" He said, running his hand through his hair. "You are making a big mistake."
I stood there, saying nothing.
"From everything that happened with Mila, I have confidence that you can get Quinn to agree to this venture but there's nothing that guarantees that it will succeed."
"True." I said. He was right. There was nothing that guaranteed that the boutique hotels would succeed.
"Then why?" He asked, taking a step back. He could see that I was sticking to my guns. "Why are you so confident?
He didn't have the whole picture. He doesn't know what's at stake here.
Five hundred million dollars.
That's a lot of money.
Yes. I'm betting my whole future on this one opportunity.
If I fail, I'll lose my seventy million. But right now, the reward was much greater than the risk.
But Matt didn't know that. I had to explain this in a way he would understand and that meant lying.
"Let me tell you why this venture is so important." I said calmly. "Please take a seat."
He stared at me for a long moment before sitting down.
"Did you know that when I went for my mother's will, reading I was able to glimpse at one of the sealed pages?"
Matt opened his mouth like he wanted to say something but had no idea what to say.
"I saw one of the clauses and a way to unlock it." I grinned at him.
"According to the will, in order to get my inheritance of a company worth around five hundred million dollars, I had to create my own venture worth at least twenty million dollars."
Matt stared at me, repeating the thing that stuck the most in his mind. "Five hundred million dollars?"
I grinned, waiting for him to process the thought.
Yes I was lying but the end result will be the same thing.
If I successfully sleep with Quinn Adams, I would get access to half a billion dollars. All I needed to do was seduce her.
"So you're telling me that your mother wanted you to start a business of your own worth at least twenty million to get five hundred million?"
"Yes."
"Woah." Matt blinked. "Rich people are sure on another level. Why not just give your kid directly? Why go through all this trouble?"
"To make me a better businessman?" I smirked.
"Fuck off." He flipped me off. Then he sat up straight. "Wait a minute."
He raised his hand.
"The will doesn't require you to specifically enter into business with someone else. So, why enter a partnership?"
"We're a two-man army, Matt." I grinned. "We entered the Pine Press Country Club to get connections of our own. Why not begin gathering them now?"
"Shit, bro." Matt grinned. "I guess you're thinking ahead."
"So, we'll kill many birds with one stone. We'll create a business that can bring more wealth, give us more connections and at the same time unlock a clause in my mother's will."
"Alright. Let's do this."
"Wait." I held up a hand. "There might be just one teensy tiny problem."
Matt paused. "And you're just telling me now?" He asked.
"Well, I had to save the best for the last."
"Alright. Shoot. What's the problem?"
"Quinn Adams is close friends with Jenny Voss."
Matt shot out of his seat. "Jenny Voss?! Your sister Jenny Voss?"
"Yes." I nodded. "My sister Jenny Voss."
"Damn. That's a big problem."
"Luckily for us, Jenny is in New York right now. Hopefully, she doesn't come back to Crownsborough or we're cooked."
Jenny will never reveal to a friend that we're siblings but that doesn't mean she won't try all she can to destroy any chance I have of getting anything I want.
That's the only thing she takes pleasure in when it comes to me.
[][][][][]
New York.
Same day.
Music thrummed through the speakers of the nightclub and the dancers danced underneath the flashing lights.
Drinks flowed like water.
The men chased the ladies and the ladies rejected the men.
But all this didn't matter to those sitting high up at the VIP section.
The lighting in the elevated section was dim but functional.
The guests in this section of the club were dressed in designer items but even among those guests, there was a space of exclusivity.
And sitting in that space were three ladies.
Out of them, only one mattered and she sat in the middle of the couch, texting on her phone and ignoring the expensive bottles in front of her.
"I'm going down." One of the girls said, and left the section, going down to the dance floor, leaving two on that couch.
A well dressed man came to hit on one of the girls but was intercepted by a huge guard.
He backed off and walked away, whispering among his friends.
The two women had no idea of what just took place.
The second woman turned away from her phone to talk to her texting friend.
"Hey Jenny. Did you have a party at Emerald Isle?"
"Hmmn?" Jenny Voss hummed, distracted by her phone. "What did you say?"
Her friend repeated the question.
"No, I didn't. It isn't time for the annual party." She answered the question without looking up from her phone.
"Then, why is Mila Devon at Emerald Isle?"
"Who?" Jenny finally raised her head, brushing her purple hair away from her eyes. She was glad the dye came along nicely.
"Mila Devon." Her friend said, handing her the phone.
Jenny took the phone and scrolled through the pictures of Mila Devon at Emerald Isle.
Then, she got to the last picture. A picture of Crownsborough from the sea.
There was a man at the edge of the frame. Only his back could be seen but Jenny could recognize him.
"Nico." She hissed.
She stood, looking at her friend. "Change of plans. I'm going to Crownsborough."
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