Chapter 145

Chapter 145

Kian interrupted Rufus again and said seriously, "But there's one person who has no protection at all."

Rufus narrowed his eyes. "Who?"

Kian said slowly, word by word, "Emily from our Taylor family!"

The moment he said it, Rufus shot a look at the young man beside him.

The young man lunged forward, grabbed Kian by the collar, and slapped him hard across the face several times.

After knocking Kian to the ground, Rufus said furiously, "This is the business you're bringing me? Three hundred million dollars? I thought you were going to introduce me to someone important. That worthless woman from your Taylor family is treated worse than a servant at home. Honestly, if she died on the street, nobody would even bother to claim her body. You want me to kidnap her? And you really think someone would pay three hundred million in ransom for her?"

Kian spat out a mouthful of blood from where he lay on the ground.

He knew this was his only chance to turn things around. If he couldn't make it work, there would be no future for him — he might not even make it out alive.

Fighting through the burning pain on his face, Kian said with tears in his eyes, "Mr. Chapman, please, hold off on the rough stuff. I'm not joking about this. You may not know, but Emily is now the president of our Taylor Group."

Rufus's face lit up with curiosity. "What? What did you just say? That useless Emily is actually the president of your Taylor Group? Wasn't Daniel the president?"

Kian sat up, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and explained carefully, "Yes, Daniel was the president before. But just recently, to secure a partnership with Preston Group, our Taylor family specifically put Emily in that position."

Kian then laid out the whole story — how Albert had taken an interest in Emily and backed her rise to president.

When he finished, seeing that Rufus was still deep in thought, he continued, "Mr. Chapman, you know Emily's situation. Our Taylor family will do absolutely anything to make this deal with Preston Group happen. All you have to do is kidnap her before the partnership is finalized, then demand three hundred million in ransom from Daniel. The Taylor family will pay up without a fight."

The young man beside them frowned, looking uneasy. He leaned in and said quietly to Rufus, "Mr. Chapman, if that's all true, it might actually be worth a shot. But there's one thing I'm worried about."

Rufus's expression turned serious. "What?"

The young man lowered his voice. "If we kidnap Emily and make Mr. Sanchez angry, that could be really bad for us."

Rufus brushed it off with a laugh. "You're worrying for nothing. Think about it — Mr. Sanchez comes from a marquis family. Why would he actually care about Emily? The way I see it, he backed her for one of two reasons. First, he wants to turn her into his puppet so he can use the Taylor Group as a shield when he expands into Novaria. Second, he's just bored and doing it for fun. Once he gets tired of her, he'll kick her to the curb."

As soon as Rufus finished, Kian jumped in, "Mr. Chapman, don't worry. As long as we grab Emily before the Taylor Group and Preston Group deepen their partnership, we won't be stepping on Mr. Sanchez's toes at all. Mr. Sanchez made it clear to our Taylor family that he won't sign any agreements until Emily officially takes the position and holds an inauguration ceremony at Vance Hotel. Right now, she just started — the paperwork isn't even done yet. If we move first, the Taylor family will hand over the ransom before Mr. Sanchez even asks them to sign anything, just to protect the deal. Then you let Emily go and act like none of this ever happened. How could that possibly upset Mr. Sanchez?"

That speech put all of Rufus's doubts to rest.

He was right — as long as they didn't cross Mr. Sanchez, they'd be taking the Taylor family's money. Albert had nothing to do with it.

As for Albert having feelings for Emily, Rufus didn't buy it for a second. Over the years, he'd dealt with plenty of powerful people, and some of them just had strange tastes.

He curled the corner of his mouth into a smile, tossed Kian a cigarette, and asked, "So — can you even smoke with a face like that?"

Kian knew how to read a room. Despite the throbbing pain, he nodded and smiled. "Of course I can. You're the one offering it, Mr. Chapman. Even if someone carved this face clean off, I'd still stuff that cigarette down my throat."

That answer pleased Rufus greatly.

Rufus lit a cigarette, took a long drag, blew out a stream of white smoke, and said, "Alright, Mr. Taylor. You say you're bringing this deal to us in exchange for wiping out your debt. So tell me — what exactly can you bring to the table in all this? Just making the introduction doesn't seem like enough to cancel out over ten million dollars in debt, does it?"

Kian said seriously, "You're right, I know just making the introduction isn't enough. But I promise — I'll play a key role in what comes next, and you'll feel like canceling that debt was more than worth it."

Rufus leaned in. "Let's hear it."

Kian answered without hesitation. "I'll plan out every step of this operation to keep the risk as low as possible. Of course, that means you'll need to work with me, Mr. Chapman."

Rufus smiled. "That's not a problem at all, Mr. Taylor."

The two of them quickly worked out all the details.

When they shook hands, Rufus spoke first. "Here's to a smooth partnership."

The weight finally lifted off Kian's chest. He nodded and said, "Let's make it happen."