Chapter 16 500 Million?

”I’m not paying the bill. I’m just here to scrounge a free meal.”

The way Alex Cohen said this was like Isla Sullivan’s hair, elegant and natural.

Everyone at the table heard this and their expression changed.

Their expressions were not the same as each one of them had their own opinion.

Isla stared at Alex. She looked calm on the surface, but her mind was very active.

‘Aren't you just too truthful? Are you holding a grudge or something? Didn't you notice that uncle’s looking at you with his eyes and even winked at you? What you’re doing is just...too awesome!’

Richard Sullivan had nowhere to vent his pent-up anger and resentment. When he swiped his card with a glum face, his heart was bleeding.

‘3016! That's half a month's salary...if I used it all to buy cigarettes, it’s enough to last me half a year!’

‘I'm glad we didn't drink, or I'd have to pay for a year's worth of cigarettes...’

The waiter left the private room after. In the blink of an eye, he came back with a handsome young man of about 23 or 24 years old.

The young man smiled and nodded at the seated crowd.

"Sorry to disturb you all…”

"Young Master Finn?"

Andy Sullivan stared at the young man. Suddenly, his eyes brightened and he quickly went over to him.

"Is it really you? I didn't expect that after not seeing you for so many years, you still remember me as a brother. Everyone, don't rush to leave yet! Let me introduce you to my junior high school classmate, Jordan Finn Ryker, the youngest son of the Ryker Gardens Corporation CEO!"

Richard Sullivan did not expect his son to have such a relationship and wanted to exchange some pleasantries with Jordan Finn Ryker to show off his connections. However, Richard suddenly thought that if Jordan would appear just slightly earlier, based on his relationship with Andy, they could have gotten a free meal or at least a discount.

It was a pity that in less than 2 minutes, his few cigarettes were gone. Who could make it up for him?

In the time that Richard was secretly lamenting, his wife brought a group of relatives with her and said everything on his mind.

Jordan Finn Ryker became more and more confused as he listened. He scratched his head and asked Andy, "May I ask who you are?"

His voice was not loud, but everyone at the table heard it and became quiet.

A kind of "awkward" atmosphere instantly filled the entire private room.

Andy was nursing a grievance because he thought that he could finally make a name for himself. Instead, he was slapped by cruel reality, so hurriedly said, "Young Master Finn, it’s me, Andy Sullivan. Don't you remember me? Then...you're not here for me?"

"Sorry, I really don’t remember. I'm here to pay a visit to a distinguished guest...”

Jordan gave Andy an awkward yet polite smile, and with the waiter's introduction, he walked up to Alex Cohen and shook his hand with a very natural smile.

"Hello! May I ask if I can speak with you in private for a moment?"

"Of course."

Alex nodded his head and followed Jordan to an office upstairs.

Jordan greeted Alex warmly and took a seat. As he served Alex a cup of fine quality Pu’er tea, he asked, "May I ask what’s your name?"

Alex waved his hand and said, "There's no need to be so polite. I'm Alex Cohen. Why did you want to see me?"

"It's like this, Mr. Cohen. The last time you swiped your Black Gold Membership Card at our restaurant, the name of Senior Wayne Larson was displayed on the register, which indicates that the initial holder of this card is Mr. Larson. Apart from visiting you today, I would also like to ask, what is your relationship with Mr. Larson?"

"You don't think I stole or found this card by accident, do you?"

"No, no, no...Mr. Cohen, you’ve misunderstood me. If Mr. Larson had lost his card, he would’ve called us. Now that you have the card and since he didn't call us, it must mean that he has given it to you. The Black Gold Membership Card is transferable, but it can only have a maximum of 3 users."

"So that's how it is...Sorry, Young Master Finn. For now, I can't divulge my relationship with him."

"It's fine, it's fine. I'm just asking...but if it's convenient, please put in a good word for my dad in front of Mr. Larson."

"Okay...no problem."

When Alex heard this, a question once again surfaced in his mind.

What exactly did Wayne Larson do?

How did it get so much respect?

Miles Zimmerman was a Deputy Director of Trinity Hospital and Jordan Ryker's father was the CEO of Ryker Gardens. All of them were big shots, yet they all seemed to have a request for Wayne Larson and lowered their attitude. There was also the Wyatt Corporation, who handed over the Greenville project to Alex just because Wayne Larson had put in a word.

Common sense would dictate that these situations could never happen.

Since it had already happened, there must be a reason for it.

As Alex thought about it, he became more and more curious about both Wayne Larson and his family…

At this time, in the basement parking lot, after Victor Sullivan witnessed all of his relatives had left, he called both Xena Sanders and Isla into the car and voiced his immediate concern.

"Did Alex Cohen eat gunpowder today? Why was he so forward?"

"I'm curious too." Xena Sanders echoed, "It feels like he's a completely different person today!"

Isla pursed her lips and said, "Dad, Mom, why are you guys like this? When Alex doesn't do anything, you say he's a loser. When he performs well like today, then you guys say he's too impulsive. I just don't understand. What kind of son-in-law do you guys want?"

Victor waved his hand repeatedly and said, "The way I said it was wrong. What I'm trying to say is that he’s completely reversed the impression that I had of him before. I have to say that he was fantastic at the restaurant just now. He really took it out on them on our behalf!"

"Right? How did we not realize before that he was this capable?"

Isla also felt increasingly confused about Alex Cohen, but she still put on a very straightforward attitude and said, "Dad, Mom, how long have Alex and I been married? If he’d just came in and was immediately straightforward and overbearing, surely you’d feel like our family’s been controlled by an outsider and you wouldn’t have felt good."

Victor frowned and said, "Lala, you mean that he was just feigning weakness before?"

"That's for sure! I think he’s coming down now. You guys should go home early and I'll have to get back."

Isla knew that if she said too much, she might have accidentally said something wrong, so she just gave a few perfunctory replies and left.

As for Victor and Xena, although they finally approved of Alex for once, their attitude towards him did not change 180 degrees. Both of them felt that they should continue to observe or even examine him. As for Isla, this was already a victory.

At the very least, she could delay for another period...

On the way back, Isla also raised a question that she was most concerned about.

"Alex, how did you win the Greenville project?"

Alex just shrugged his shoulders and replied, "Would you believe me if I said that Director Zane took the initiative to come to my office and gave me the project?"

"Unbelievable!"

"Then I have nothing more to say…”

The next day, Alex arrived at the company early. As soon as he arrived at work, he gathered all the employees together to study the Greenville project. If it was according to the regular process, the first thing to do was to make a preliminary plan, give an offer, and take these materials to negotiate with Raymond Zane before they would proceed to the next step.

In reality, Hudson Designs had already decided to take on the project and could prepare the materials in advance along with subsequent preparations, such as expanding the staff, contacting the construction team, and purchasing the materials.

At 3:30 pm, Hudson Lowe and Winson Tall suddenly barged into the company.

Felix Moore immediately rushed up and blocked the two. He asked, "What are you two doing here?"

Winson smiled coldly and said, "Felix Moore, we’re not here with a personal agenda. You'd better be polite to us. We’ve been employed by York Designs LLC and are working in the marketing department. You’re not worthy to talk to Manager Lowe with your level. Call Alex Cohen out!"

Felix was a bit dumbfounded. He did not expect Hudson and Winson to find jobs so quickly, and that Hudson even became a department manager!

Judging by Winson's high-spiritedness, this matter would probably not be so simple.

Felix did not dare to call the shots on this, so he found Alex and explained the situation.

As soon as Alex heard this, he also felt that something was wrong, so he quickly called Hudson and Winson to his office and asked, "What kind of cooperation do you want to talk to me about?"

Hudson crossed his legs and said proudly, "Of course it's about the Greenville project."

"What do you mean?"

"Alex, you and Deputy Director Zane have only reached an intention to cooperate, and that project’s not certain to be yours before you sign the agreement. As long as you voluntarily withdraw from the competition, our company will give you 200,000. Without going through the company account, you can pocket it all for yourself."

"I knew you wouldn't say anything nice. You can leave now."

Alex had lost patience with Hudson's nonsense.

Hudson's expression darkened and said, "Alex, I told you yesterday that your company can't handle the Greenville project. If you're smart, just quietly hand over this project to our company. Otherwise, I guarantee that you’ll regret it! So what if you have 4 million? York Designs can easily crush you, not to mention the fact that York Designs will soon be acquired by Sincere Co."

“You dare to threaten me? Get the hell out of here!"

Alex's temper rose and he called Felix and a bunch of other employees to kick Hudson and Winson out of the office.

He did not take Hudson's threat seriously at all, but he was worried about the Gold Stone Advertising Agency.

Gold Stone had failed to take on the Greenville project and did not even know who had snatched it away. On the contrary, Sincere Co. had not only discovered who had taken that project, but they had also found the most suitable person to steal this project back. All of this within a day. Both its efficiency and development capabilities were way ahead of Gold Stone.

For Gold Stone, Sincere Co overtaking them was still a secondary problem. Their current predicament was their biggest problem.

If they were to just rely on Victor Sullivan’s family, they would never be able to solve the problem, and thus would not be able to save Gold Stone.

Alex did a simple analysis and suddenly had a bold idea.

Once his idea was a success, it would most certainly impress Isla’s family.

However, that would require a large sum of money.

His existing funds were basically only enough to complete the Greenville project...

As he thought of this, his phone suddenly chimed. It was a text message from the bank regarding a funds transfer.

Alex took a look and saw the amount he received started with a 5 and followed by a long string of zeros. It looked like a lot more zeros than what he had previously received the past couple of times. His heart suddenly pounded violently and his slightly trembling fingers counted the number of zeroes one by one. He instantly froze in shock.

"This is 5...500 million?"