Financial Emperor: After I Rose From the Dead
Chapter 42: No Traps, No Relent

Chapter 42: No Traps, No Relent

"Well then, I guess it’s time to make history for our brother," Malcolm said.

"Not yet," a new voice joined, interrupting the call.

Everyone looked up to find that Reynar had just joined, his face calm but at the same time, serious on the screen.

Rino sat up a little straighter.

Reynar folded his arms and leaned further toward the camera. "I mean, before we start talking about making history for our ’brother’... can someone tell me who exactly are we talking about? And why?

Nobody spoke.

Everybody ignored him and the call only lingered a bit long in silence.

"Okay. I’m sorry for joining this late, it was due to an inconvenience," Reynar apologized.

The participants nodded from their screens, proof that it was supposed of Reynar to apologize for having attended the meeting late instead of trooping in with demands.

Then, Dalia replied to his question. "We’re discussing how to help Rino place a bid for the Nova Nexus Tower—"

She didn’t even finish before Reynar cut her short as he did to Malcolm, again, in a tone that sounded casual but carried weight. "And you all agreed to this?"

There was a short silence.

Then Amaka jumped in. "Yes, we did. We agreed because it makes sense. If we don’t take it, the Green Lords will. And once they do, it’ll slow us down and limit our influential growth."

She added, "The government plans to develop that whole area soon. It’s a good thing one of us happens to possess one of the properties in that area. I mean, that’s not a bad reason to help one of our own."

Zaria nodded in agreement. "Exactly. I remember watching him the night he jotted his assumptions in his draft notes. Then, I didn’t understand why he did so, even though he had mentioned that they were his properties, but he had predicted that development would visit Medar soon.

Zaria had said what she said without understanding the impression it would send to the minds of the others.

After she spoke, there was another silence, but this time, it felt unusual. Then, Malcolm broke the silence with a chuckle.

"Well then... Mister Cat is a real sneaky genius. A motherfucker," he said and they all laughed.

Dalia smirked. "So Zaria, how does his gigolo taste?"

More laughter filled the screen.

Rino wasn’t comfortable with where the new topic was heading. He wasn’t particularly happy with the sudden change of topic.

"Enough with the jokes," he said flatly. "Motherfucker. Motherfuguire. Tasteful gigolo. Let’s wrap this up. I’ve got to work on my bidding proposal. It’s getting late."

Reynar sighed. "Look, I’m not saying helping you, sorry, Rino is a bad idea. I’m just saying Nova Nexus has serious debts on its table. Whoever takes over will have to deal with that. That’s a big risk."

He paused, then added, "We could just let the Green Lords go for it, then sit back and watch them struggle. Let’s just call it, the Red Tann relenting, to set traps for the Green Lords."

But Rino quickly cut him off.

"No traps. No Relent."

He leaned forward, his voice clear and strong.

"Think about it. If the government thought Nova Nexus was useless, they could have shut it down for good. But they didn’t. They’re giving someone a chance to rebuild it."

Reynar shook his head. "That’s just so they can dump the problem on someone else. They don’t want individuals to take it because they want a group to be responsible."

Rino nodded. "You might be talking true. But I’ve looked into everything. I know how much is owed. That’s why my proposal is built around fixing those debts."

He continued, "I’m not placing the bid as a donation. It’s a plan to make money while paying off what’s owed. Especially as the property belongs to me."

Everyone was quiet for a second.

Then Malcolm clapped slowly. "So, Reynar? Got anything else to say? Or do you want to come up with a new argument?"

Everyone chuckled.

Malcolm added, "Rino’s putting down $15 million of his own money. If we believe in this, we need to support it too."

Kasper leaned forward. "So what—do we match his sum?"

"It won’t be a bad idea if we do that," Amaka said. "But, in as much as we are getting involved, if this doesn’t work out, Rino pays back half of the money. That will be our safety net."

Rino nodded. "Deal."

Apparently, Red Tann agreed as a team to contribute $15 million from the group’s account, making the bid sum $30,000,000.

Zaria raised her hand. "On a personal note, I will add $2 million."

"Same here," Kasper said.

"I’ll put in $2 million too," Amaka said.

Malcolm smiled. "Make mine $2 million. I’m not about to be left behind."

"What about you, Dalia?" Amaka asked.

"$1 million," Dalia said coolly. "Only because I hate the Green Lords more than I care about Rino’s family drama."

All eyes turned to Reynar.

He sighed. "Alright. I’ll put in $1 million too. But if this goes south, I’ll drag Rino out of it myself."

They all laughed.

Rino smiled on his bed as he watched the numbers add up.

~ Rino: $15,000,000

~ Red Tann: $15,000,000

~ Zaria: $2,000,000

~ Kasper: $2,000,000

~ Amaka: $2,000,000

~ Malcolm: $2,000,000

~ Dalia: $1,000,000

~ Reynar: $1,000,000

A total of $40 million had just been budgeted for the bidding.

But to be sure, Rino asked, "I hope the personal sums are not also liquidated?"

"What is there to liquidate in $2 million?" Malcolm responded. "This is our personal contribution."

"We are only liquidating the group’s contribution. This means if things run haywire, you have agreed to transfer the sum of $7.5 million back to us," Amaka explained further.

"Well... that’s better."

"Let’s round it up to $50 million," Zaria spoke, expecting any of the others to start by adding to their donations.

Then Kasper spoke up. "We can add the $10 million sitting in our emergency fund for projects like this. Support?"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Support!!!"

That brought the total up to $50,000,000.

Rino looked at all their faces on the screen—his friends, his people. Some believed, some doubted, but all of them were in.

He leaned back on the bed, smiling.

The Red Tann... really is the best ally I thought ever of having, he thought.

Now that he had achieved his aim, he left the conference call likewise the other participants.

What’s next is to make his proposal so that Kasper can submit it to the government the next day since he was the third party in the invitation.

But, he had no lawyer that would pose a stamp on it, to show its authenticity. Red Tann’s authenticity.

He stared at the ceiling thinking hard of how he was going to go about it.

But, Red Tann should have a lawyer, right?

No, they are a secretive group and shouldn’t. The government only got to know about them since that was how politics worked. There were unknowns who controlled the policy, and there were knowns who the people thought they voted their rights into.

Then, a thought crept in at that moment.

Amaka...