After Divorce I Married a Tycoon-Chapter 121: A Bloodless Murder
That afternoon, Adrian Sutton was in the kitchen, cooking.
A call came in from Hughes. He put on his headset, his hands never stopping their work.
"Speak."
Hughes’s voice came through from the other end of the line.
"Boss, Oscar Mercer is currently scrambling to raise money. He wants to buy Southedge."
’Buy Southedge? With the Mercer Group in its current state, he still thinks he can buy Southedge?’
"But given the Mercer Group’s current situation, no one is willing to lend him the money."
"Besides, they already took out a huge loan from the bank before."
"They haven’t even paid back the principal yet, so the banks won’t lend to them again."
"But they’re determined to get Southedge now and are already planning to turn to private lenders."
Adrian Sutton finished marinating the sliced beef brisket and took some fresh tomatoes out of the refrigerator.
A pleased smile touched the corners of his lips as he chopped the washed tomatoes into small pieces.
"And just like that, the fish have taken the bait."
All it took was spreading a few false rumors, and the desperate father and son from the Mercer Family fell for it, hook, line, and sinker.
"Then give them a hundred million."
Hughes couldn’t help but exclaim, "Boss, are you sure?"
"Given the Mercer Group’s current state, there’s no way they can pay back a hundred million."
’Even if you have all the money in the world... even if you have more money than you could spend in several lifetimes... you can’t just hand it over to that Mercer father and son.’
"It’s fine," Adrian Sutton said casually.
"We’ll just use a hundred million to play with them for a bit."
"Southedge has always been private land belonging to our Sutton Family."
"He’s borrowing my money to buy my family’s land, and then he’ll owe me a hundred million..." 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎
Adrian Sutton found the whole thing rather amusing.
After hearing this, Hughes observed a moment of silence for the Mercer father and son.
...
’The boss’s move is truly vicious. He’s going to lend money to the Mercer Family at an interest rate slightly higher than the bank’s. Then he’ll have them use that money to buy the Sutton Family’s land. In the end, the money goes right back into the boss’s pocket.’
"After they buy the land, have the official website release an announcement immediately."
"Say that the CZ Group has suddenly changed its plans and intends to build Rhonia’s most luxurious tourist resort on Norgale instead."
"At that point, no one will be interested in Southedge. Since they can’t afford to develop the project themselves, they’ll naturally be desperate to sell it."
"Then, we’ll buy the land back at the lowest possible price."
"When they can’t repay the loan, they’ll have to use the Mercer Group to cover the debt."
Hughes understood his boss’s plan.
It was equivalent to lending the Mercer father and son a hundred million.
Letting them use that hundred million to buy Southedge.
Then buying Southedge back for fifty million.
In the time it took to sell it and buy it back, his boss would make a "heartbreaking" profit of fifty million.
This way, the Mercer father and son would lose the land and still be fifty million in debt.
Just the interest on that fifty million would be a substantial sum, not to mention the principal itself.
Even if they used the current Mercer Group to cover the debt, it probably wouldn’t be enough.
By then, the Mercer father and son would be drowning in external debt, the Mercer Group would be gone, and they’d be nothing but stray dogs.
Debt collectors would be at their door every day, and they’d have to hide just to evade them...
He could just imagine how miserable life would become for the Mercer family.
Hughes had to admit, his boss really had a knack for dealing with people.
This method was, simply put, killing without shedding a drop of blood.
"You keep following up. Don’t let them notice anything amiss."
"Then again, for those two idiots to run the Mercer Group into the ground like this, they can’t be too bright."
"Besides, they have no other options left. Buying Southedge is their last-ditch, all-or-nothing bet."
"In that state of mind, how could they possibly notice anything amiss?"
The words had barely left his lips when Claire Mercer slid open the kitchen door. "Amiss? What’s amiss?"
Claire Mercer’s sudden appearance made Adrian Sutton jump.
He even sliced his finger.
Not wanting her to see that he’d hurt his finger, he hid his hand behind his back.
"Oh, it’s nothing. Not ’amiss’... I said... uh... some mash...ed potatoes."
Claire Mercer didn’t notice his subtle movement.
Her clear eyes lit up the moment she heard "mashed potatoes."
She then peered around the kitchen. "You’re making mashed potatoes today?"
"I am." Adrian Sutton couldn’t help but chuckle at her greedy little expression.
"Do you like mashed potatoes?"
Claire Mercer nodded. "I love them. Mashed potatoes with rice is super delicious."
Of course, Adrian Sutton knew she liked mashed potatoes.
Almost every dish he made was one of her favorites.
He just occasionally made a few other dishes to go with them so it wouldn’t be too obvious.
"I’m also making tomato and beef brisket stew, braised pork ribs, and stir-fried broccoli."
After hearing him list the dinner menu, Claire Mercer couldn’t help but swallow hard.
In the past, she had always been casual about food; as long as she could fill her stomach, it was good enough.
But ever since she moved in and started rooming with Adrian Sutton...
She’d actually started looking forward to her three meals a day.
Before, she was the one bustling around the kitchen every day for Gavin Sinclair.
By the time the food was ready, she’d have lost her appetite.
But now, she had become the one who waited for her meals to be served.
Adrian Sutton wouldn’t even let her into the kitchen, refusing any offers to help.
Just like now, when she asked him, "Do you need any help?"
Adrian Sutton waved her off. "You just focus on preparing for next month’s design competition. Leave the rest to me."
"Alright." Claire Mercer didn’t stand on ceremony. "Then I’ll just wait for dinner to be served."
"Go on, I’ll call you when it’s ready."
After nodding at him, Claire Mercer happily dashed off to her bedroom.
Watching her cheerful, skipping figure through the kitchen window...
Adrian Sutton felt an indescribable sense of happiness well up in his heart.
"Oh, right..." Claire Mercer leaned back to look into the kitchen.
She said to Adrian Sutton, "If I win a prize in the design competition, half the credit is yours, so I’ll split the prize money with you, ’kay?"
"I heard the first prize is several million. You want to... give half of it to me?"
’His Claire, how could she be so generous with him? He was the one who wanted to organize the competition to help her achieve her dream, to let her stand on the stage she longed for and shine brightly. And to give her a bit of financial help in a reasonable way. Who would have thought that if she won, she’d be willing to give him half?’
’What should I do?’
’He was really starting to like her more and more, to love her more and more.’
Meanwhile, Claire Mercer was amused by Adrian Sutton’s somewhat baffled expression.
"Of course! It’s joint marital property, hahaha..."
"Even if I don’t split it with you, half of it is still yours."
’Besides, if Adrian Sutton hadn’t saved her and helped her, would she even have the chance to enter a design competition? Let alone win any prize money. She used to think he was a bit of a jinx. It seemed like after she met him, nothing went smoothly. But it wasn’t until today that she realized, if it weren’t for him, she had no idea what her life would have become. Because even if she hadn’t met him, all those near-disasters would have happened anyway. Thankfully, she met him, and he kept things from taking a turn for the worse.’
’If, in the future, neither of them met someone they fell in love with, someone they wanted to spend the rest of their lives with...’
’...then spending a lifetime with him like this would actually be pretty nice.’
