chapter 22 - 23
2043 Words
“I’m a bit offended, Zoey.” Harry smiled ruefully, “How could you forget about your own family?”
“Grandpa, I…”
“You should have come to me instead. The Lopez Group could work out something for you. You know it’s well within our means to take on that Ecological Park project of yours.”
“I could even provide the startup capital for your project!” said Harry seriously.
“I bet there’s going to be some conditions attached to it?” Levi drove straight to the point. “Or you wouldn’t be so kind as to provide the funding.”
He had seen through the ulterior motive for Harry to fund the project.
“Good, I like to deal with smart people.” Harry grinned, “It’d save me a lot of my time.”
His words prompted Samuel Robertson, who was sitting next to Harry, to pass over the contract to Zoey.
“Take a look at this, Zoey.”
Zoey immediately studied the contract when they passed it to her.
The content was straightforward.
The contract stated that Lopez Group would get up to ninety percent of the profits for the Ecological Park project for providing the funds to Imperial Meadows Limited.
It sent Aaron into a fit of rage after he read the contract.
The Lopez family are simply too cruel to ask for such a huge chunk of the profits.
Aaron was utterly pissed off. He felt that Harry had never regarded him as his own son, but just another prey he was targeting.
“Don’t be mad, Aaron and Zoey. Think about it, in three days’ time, the project would be automatically annulled if you can’t come up with the funding.” Harry’s grin was sly and pernicious, as if he was trying to lure the bait to the hook, “You would end up without a cent once the project was annulled. But if you accept our funding, you’d still get a ten percent cut out of the profits. That would translate to quite a considerable sum of a hundred million. It’s up to you to decide…”
“Unless you’re confident to pull in the funds that you need before the stated deadline.”
Given the tight deadline of just three days, Harry was pretty sure it was nigh impossible for Zoey to secure the funds she needed for the project. This would only leave her with no other options but to agree to his terms.
It would make the Lopez family the biggest winner with a whopping ninety percent of the profits. Even Mr. Jennings could do nothing about it.
“That’s true, Aaron.” Henry chipped in, “We should work together since we’re family. Let’s share the profits instead of having the cake all to yourself.”
“There’s no hurry to sign this. I’ll leave you guys alone to discuss it among yourselves.”
Harry and his company left Levi, Zoey and her parents to talk things out.
“Why don’t we just agree to their terms, Zoey?” Aaron and Caitlyn persuaded, “At least there’s still something left on the plate for us. You should know better that your chances of getting the funds are almost as good as zero!”
Their words almost swayed Zoey to put her name down on the contract. But she held back and sought Levi’s opinion.
“Don’t sign it!” Levi was adamant.
“Trust me, Zoey! I’m sure that I can secure the funding you need before the deadline expires!”
A fuming Aaron intervened before Zoey could fumble out a reply, “Don’t give me that crap again! Do we hold you responsible if we lose that hundred million? I firmly believe we should sign it.”
Zoey was in a dilemma as she eyed Levi skeptically. She did not have complete faith in Levi’s words.
“Alright, how about this?” Levi shrugged, “Since we have three days left to go, why don’t we hang on till the last day to see if we could pull in some investments?” he suggested, “It’s still not too late to sign the contract by then.”
“Sounds like a plan!”
“I could work with that!”
Everybody gave their nods of approval.
The same goes for Harry and his men. They agreed to the suggestion readily.
They were certain that Zoey would never secure the investments that she badly needed in just three days’ time.
…
For the next three days, Zoey worked tirelessly from day to night to meet with potential investors for the project.
Yet, there was nothing to show for all her efforts.
Those who were interested demanded a ridiculous amount of return for their investments.
It would make more sense to work with Harry, since his offer was more or less the same than the rest.
Three days passed by without a trace. The deadline was set on tomorrow before ten o’clock to kick start the project, once over the given time, the project would be automatically annulled.
“Come on, we’ve got to sign the contract with Harry now.” Aaron stood up and said.
“What’s the hurry? Why don’t we just wait a little longer?” Levi tried to dissuade them from signing, “We have all the time till next morning eight o’clock to sign it.”
“Let’s wait until tomorrow morning, Zoey. Don’t sign the contract today.” Levi instructed.
“I need to step out for a while.” Levi left the house after he urged Zoey to stay patient for one more night.
chapter 23
Levi left the house to meet up with Azure Dragon, whom he had instructed to wait for him outside the house.
“What can I do for you, Sir?” Azure Dragon asked.
“I want you to contact these companies.” Levi handed him a list of company names.
The following morning.
Zoey was woken up by Aaron in the wee hours of the morning.
“Where the hell is Levi? I presume he was out last night to source for funding, but what’s taking him so long to come back?” Aaron said disapprovingly, “He just can’t do anything right. He’s a born loser, a good-for-nothing!”
It angered Zoey to think that Levi did not even bother to inform her when he knew he would be out the whole night.
“We’d better sign the contract before it’s too late. Let’s meet up with Harry now!”
Harry and his men were already standing by at the family mansion when Zoey and her family arrived.
An euphoric smile hung on their faces as they greeted Zoey and her family.
It was all too gratifying for Harry and company to see the three of them come begging with their tail between their legs.
“You should have known better than to make a fool out of yourself, Aaron.” Henry and Fabian jeered at him, “Can’t you see that there’s no way you guys could ever get the investments?”
Aaron lowered his head and said feebly, “We’re here to sign the contract, dad.”
Anger welled up in his chest when he thought of Levi.
Had it not been Levi who advised them to hold back for three more days, they would have signed it on the same day when it was offered to them, It would have seemed more like a respectable deal at that time.
It had become anything but respectable in the eyes of Harry and his company now that Aaron had to beg them for the contract. Knowing the contract was now the last resort for Zoey, it would only make Aaron looked desperate and defeated in the eyes of the Lopez family.
Aaron and his family had never felt such humiliation before. This is all thanks to Levi.
“Yes, we are ready to sign it now, grandpa.” Zoey informed Harry.
“Sure, we can sign the contract. But there will be a change of terms.” Harry’s expression changed and he curled his lips into a grim smile, “We are no longer asking for ninety but ninety-five percent of the profits now. The remaining five percent would be yours.”
“What? Didn’t we agreed on a ninety percent cut for you and ten percent for us?”
A sudden terrible pang of shock hit Zoey as she stared at Harry incredulously. Harry had just dropped a bombshell on her.
“Don’t you know the terms changes accordingly?” Harry said scornfully, “That’s our offer. Take it or leave it.”
Knowing the ball was now in his court, Harry knew it was he who called the shots. The change of terms seemed justifiable to him since it was Zoey who desperately needed the contract.
Zoey winced at the cold-bloodiness of these people!
She bitterly resented her grandpa for his callous and selfishness.
“Fine then, I’ll pass! I’ll give up the project altogether!” she said in a fit of rage, “Nobody would get a dime out of it!”
“How could you say that, Zoey? Five percent would still give us fifty million, at least there’s something for us!”
“Your mum is right, Zoey. We can’t afford to lose it, just sign it!”
The relentless pestering from Aaron and Caitlyn left Zoey with no choice but to sign the contract.
“Stop! Don’t sign the contract!”
Just as Zoey was about to ink the contract, Levi showed up and halted her.
“There’s still time before the deadline,” he wrung away the pen from Zoey’s hands, “why do we have to sign it now?” he questioned.
“What do you think you’re doing, Levi?” Aaron almost wanted to slap Levi across the face “Why are you stopping us from getting the fifty million? Is it because you’re jealous you’ve got nothing for yourself?”
“Ten minutes! just give me ten minutes! Once the time is up you can do as you please.” Levi glanced at his watch and said, “You can sign it in ten minutes’ time!”
“Alright! I’ll give you another ten minutes to prove yourself!” Aaron muttered through gritted teeth, “Make sure you produce something in ten minutes’ time, or I’ll never forgive you for the rest of my life, much less allow Zoey to stay with you!”
“Okay!”
The unyielding attitude of Levi intrigued Harry. He was curious to see what would happen in ten minutes’ time.
“Alright, let’s wait for another ten minutes.”
Henry and the rest giggled with excitement. They could not wait to get their popcorn ready to watch some hilarious comedy in ten minutes’ time.
Ten minutes passed in a flash. Everything was at status quo.
“Just sign it!” Henry threw the contract in front of Zoey. He was certain there would be no white knight coming to her rescue.
Vroom! Vroom! Vroom!
At the same moment, a thunderous roar of engine noises filled the whole of the Lopez family mansion.
It attracted the curiosity of everyone to step out of the building.
What greeted their eyes was a succession of luxury cars making their way into the Lopez family mansion. They all came to a halt when they reached their building.
- Writer
