Chapter 153
Chapter 153
David already knew about this and nodded. "Right, I do have around 500 acres of land coming my way."
The moment those words landed, both Zane and Quinn's eyes lit up with pure greed.
500 acres! At current prices, that would be worth over two billion dollars.
Stunned, Zane fought to keep his excitement in check. He licked his dry lips and leaned toward David, lowering his voice. "David, how about this? I've got $2.5 million in savings right now. You paid around $80 million for those 500 acres. I'll give you $100,000 per acre — let me buy 25 acres from you. How does that sound?"
David had been wondering what they wanted with him. Turns out they had their eyes on his 500 acres the whole time.
"Sorry, I'm not selling any of it." David turned them down flat.
Zane's heart jumped. "Not selling? Why not? Are you just waiting for the land to go up in value? You know what that area is like — it's all low-lying wetland down in the south. You can't build on it, and you can't even grow crops there. Think about it — you paid around $80 million for it not long ago, and now I'm offering you $100,000 an acre. In such a short time you'd be making..."
Before Zane could finish, David stood up and smiled. "Save your breath. I already told you, I'm not selling. Not for $100,000 an acre, not for $200,000, not even $300,000. It's not for sale."
Quinn looked flustered. "But if you're not selling it, what are you keeping it for?"
David smiled. "When my time comes, I want to be buried there."
That one line completely broke both Zane and Quinn.
Zane stared at David, speechless for a long moment, then finally muttered under his breath, "Are you kidding me? You're perfectly healthy. A burial plot... wait, you'd need 500 acres for a grave? You wouldn't even need 2 acres — you could bury a hundred of you in that."
The moment Zane finished, David wiped the smile right off his face and asked coldly, "What did you just say?"
Zane immediately realized he'd put his foot in his mouth. "I misspoke, David. I'm sorry. Look, if $100,000 is too low, I'll go up to $200,000. Just give me ten or fifteen acres, that's all I'm asking."
David was about to respond when Owen's voice suddenly rang out from outside the door.
"I'll pay $300,000! David, I'm offering $300,000 per acre!"
With that, Owen came bursting through the door with Aria, both of them out of breath.
The second he was inside, Owen shot Zane a hard look and said with clear resentment, "Zane, that's a pretty low move. You're the elder here — how could you try to take advantage of the kid? Never mind the fact that David is already Elizabeth's husband. Even without that, we shouldn't be pulling this kind of thing on family."
He didn't give Zane a chance to respond. Owen turned straight to David and said, word by word, "David, listen to me. If anyone offers you less than $300,000 per acre for that land, they're ripping you off."
Being called out on the spot like that, Zane was furious enough to spit blood. He never imagined Owen had the nerve — Owen was just as guilty of trying to lowball David, yet here he was pointing the finger.
Seething, Zane snapped, "Owen, don't push it. This is my house. Nobody invited you here. Get out — both of you, get out right now!"
Owen ignored him entirely. Instead, he stepped forward and grabbed David's wrist.
"David, come with me. I already called home and had food and drinks set up. Let's go have a real drink tonight."
David watched the whole scene play out and laughed. "Alright, alright, stop fighting. I already said it — I'm not giving up that land in the south wetlands to anyone. Back when I told all of you that whoever took over the Cole Group would be rolling in money, did a single person in the Perez family believe me? Now you smell an opportunity, and instead of going out and finding your own deals, you come trying to pull one over on your own family. Come on."
Zane's mouth hung half open. After a few seconds he managed to ask slowly, "Wait — David, do you already know something?"
David looked curious. "Know what? I don't know anything. What I do know is, hold onto that land long enough and I'll make a killing."
Hearing David say that with such confidence, Owen let out a rueful smile, dropping his earlier pretense. "Come on, stop playing dumb. If you could already tell back then that land would go up, there's no way you don't know about the south district development project."
David was genuinely caught off guard. "Wait — a south district development project? It's already on the schedule?"
He reflexively pulled out his phone.
While David did a quick search, Owen settled onto the couch and laid it out plainly. "David, Zane was trying to cheat you. I'm not. I'll be straight with you — the official announcement for the south wetlands development project went out today. Construction is about to start. Your land could end up going for around $2.5 million per acre. At that rate, your 500 acres would be worth over a billion dollars at minimum. Now, in the past, you'd have been able to pocket all of that. But do you really think you'd get to keep every dollar of a billion-dollar land deal to yourself right now?"
David had honestly lost interest in how much money he was making. He'd bought that land mainly to shake Elizabeth up a bit, to knock some of that arrogance out of her. But hearing Owen say that, he still smiled and asked, "Now I need to hear this. Why wouldn't all the money go to me?"
Owen answered without missing a beat. "Think about it — you're married now. And when you bought that land, you and Elizabeth had already registered your marriage. That means the profits from that investment are joint marital assets. They belong to both of you."