Reborn Rich: Prices Dropped, My Savings Didn't novel Chapter 97

Chapter 97: Chapter 95: The One Who Tied the Bell Must Untie It

Cecilia Sterling and Estelle Goodman finished their meal and left the restaurant first. Timothy Rowe and Gavin Garrett, however, remained seated, reeling from what had just happened.

After a moment, Gavin Garrett murmured, "This feels so unreal. It’s like I’m dreaming!"

Timothy Rowe felt the same. ’Even though Cecilia Sterling said she was taking a gamble, the stakes were huge. Wasn’t it all a bit too rash?’

They had only added each other on WhatsApp the day before.

Gavin Garrett snapped out of it and looked at Timothy Rowe. "Why did you voluntarily give up a point? Cecilia Sterling already offered a seventy-thirty split!"

Timothy Rowe glanced at him and said calmly, "She’s taking on all the risk. Since she’s betting on us so unreservedly, it’s only right that we take a smaller share. Besides, even if we secured investment from a major group, we’d only get two percent at most. So why should we take advantage of Cecilia Sterling? She’s a layperson who doesn’t understand all this. We can’t be unscrupulous."

Gavin Garrett scratched his head, embarrassed. It belatedly dawned on him, and he agreed, "You’ve got a point."

"Don’t you have your tutoring gig? You’d better get going."

Gavin Garrett jumped and quickly checked the time. "Crap, I almost forgot! I’m heading out now."

Timothy Rowe nodded and reminded him, "Don’t let the good news slip out yet. Let’s wait until after we’ve signed and notarized the contract with Cecilia Sterling. I’m worried something might change and we’ll have gotten everyone’s hopes up for nothing."

Gavin Garrett gave a nod to show he understood, then slung on his backpack and hurried away.

Meanwhile, Cecilia Sterling and Estelle Goodman, having just finished lunch at a small diner where a meal cost practically nothing, had relocated to an upscale dessert shop for afternoon tea.

Estelle Goodman had been peppering her with questions about the sudden investment the whole way there. Finally, Cecilia told her, "The project Rowe and his team are working on is one the Goodman Group rejected."

"Huh?" Estelle Goodman was taken aback.

Cecilia recounted the previous night’s events to Estelle, whose eyes grew round and wide as she listened.

"My dad just kicked them out like that?"

Cecilia nodded. She could understand, though. A father worried about his daughter was in no mood to deal with work at that moment. Besides, Rowe’s approach had indeed been a bit sudden.

’The timing and the approach were both wrong. It’s perfectly normal that it didn’t work out.’

"So you just threw your money at them like that? Do you really believe they can pull it off?"

Holding a delicate teacup, Cecilia smiled at her friend’s words. "Well, I’ve already made the investment, so it’s best to be optimistic, don’t you think?"

Estelle leaned back on the sofa and sighed, her tone conflicted. "If they fail, I’ll feel terrible about the money you lost. But if they succeed, I’ll have to regret it on my dad’s behalf."

Cecilia smiled but said nothing. ’Goodman Group has nothing to regret,’ she thought. ’They missed this opportunity last time, too. Instead, it was the Lane Group that benefited, which led to them coming from behind a few years later to surpass Goodman Group and become the leader in the AI field.’

’The reason she was willing to fund Rowe’s team wasn’t just because of their outstanding abilities. More than that, it was a form of compensation.’

’Based on the outcome from last time, everyone on this team had a bright future after joining the Lane Group. But this time, because of her, that future had been rerouted.’

’In that case, she was willing to take the Lane Group’s place in nurturing this team. She believed that true talent will always shine through.’

"My cousin asked for your WhatsApp."

Estelle suddenly rolled her eyes and turned her phone screen toward Cecilia.

It was a simple, crude method. Jonah Goodman had transferred 20 dollars to Estelle, followed by a message: "Dearest cousin, send me Cecilia Sterling’s WhatsApp."

Seeing his son’s state, Walter Lane’s anger flared. He SLAMMED his chopsticks down. "What kind of behavior is this? If he keeps this up, I’m really sending him abroad!"

"You wouldn’t dare!" Mrs. Lane retorted anxiously. "He’s my only son! He’s not going anywhere."

Walter Lane snorted. "He’s moping around like a zombie all day over Cecilia Sterling. If we don’t get him out of this environment, are we just supposed to let him waste away?"

"But we can’t send Shawn away! Can’t you pull some strings for our son’s sake? Make that Cecilia Sterling leave Lorcain?"

"Pull what strings? Kidnapping? Coercion? Threats and bribes?"

Mrs. Lane’s eyes grew red with desperation. "And why not?"

Walter Lane laughed, though it was a laugh of pure exasperation. He looked at his wife and shook his head, speechless. "Honestly... what am I supposed to do with you!?"

"I don’t care. I’d do anything for my son."

"Then why don’t I hand you a knife so you can go kill Cecilia Sterling yourself!" Walter Lane shot back, furious.

Mrs. Lane looked wounded. "You only know how to take it out on me! Why don’t you think of a solution? It’s been almost half a month! It’s a miracle Shawn is even still eating. If he’d lost his appetite completely, he might be dead by now!"

Walter Lane took a deep breath. "This is all your fault. Shawn and that Cecilia Sterling had only been together for a short while when you split them up. They were in the honeymoon phase. You should have just let him date her. Isn’t it perfectly normal to have a few girlfriends in college? It’s not like he was going to marry her. Why did you have to overreact?"

"And look what happened. The abrupt breakup traumatized him, and now you’re finally panicking?"

Mrs. Lane was starting to feel a pang of regret. If she had known her son would end up like this after the breakup, she never would have interfered.

Seeing his wife fall silent, Walter Lane couldn’t bear to blame her any longer. He thought for a moment, then said, "The person who tied the bell is the one who must untie it. The way I see it, you need to go talk to Cecilia Sterling again. Apologize to her. Tell her she has your permission to keep seeing Shawn."