Chapter 155

Chapter 155

Atticus couldn't help laughing when he heard this. "Why bring up old news? Right, you still haven't told me — who ended up with all those shares? Was it the Perez family?"

Mia gave a bitter smile. "The Perez family? They wish."

Atticus looked genuinely surprised. "What? You mean the Perez family didn't walk away with everything?"

So Mia laid out everything she'd heard through the grapevine.

When she finished, Atticus's eyes lit up. "Wait — you're saying David got all eight percent by himself? Good God, let me do the math. Eight percent... that means David alone just ended up with 500 acres of that land."

Mia stood up, her voice sharp with anger. "No way. I'm not letting him swallow all that land by himself."

Atticus quickly tried to stop her. "What are you doing? Sit back down!"

"Dad," Mia said firmly, "get some money ready. I'm going to have a little talk with David. If he hadn't misled me back then, I could've grabbed at least some shares from the Coles. Now he's the one who hit the jackpot — the least he can do is cut me in."

Atticus shook his head with a tired smile. "You really think that's going to work? You know how high land prices are over there. Sit down first — I have two other things I want to talk to you about."

Mia didn't sit. She stood in front of Atticus, still turning over in her mind how to get a piece of land out of David, and said absently, "Go ahead. What is it?"

Atticus said seriously, "Two things. First — Hill Enterprises is looking to pick one company from Seabrook as a partner. Did you know about this?"

Mia nodded. "I did. I'll go after it."

Atticus nodded. "Good. Put some real effort into that one. Now the second thing — Mr. Wright's daughter Miss Wright has a birthday coming up in a few days. Pick out a nice gift in the next couple of days and go represent the Wilson family at the party. I've heard that Mr. Wright is planning something really special for her — something with a surprise element to it. You need to be ready to make the most of that."

Mia gave a small nod. "Don't worry, Dad. I'll stay on top of both. But I'm still going to find David first. I'm not asking for much — just a dozen or so acres. We don't even have to flip it. We could develop it ourselves, put up a residential complex or an office building. That's not too much to ask, is it?"

Atticus just smiled. "Sweetheart, stop dreaming. How long have you even known Mr. Jones? And it's not like the two of you have any kind of... special relationship..."

Before he could finish, Mia cut him off. "Who says we don't? Relationships are built over time. We may not have one now, but who knows about later?"

Atticus felt a jolt of unease. "Mia, you can't let money push you into doing something you shouldn't."

Mia's cheeks flushed. "Dad, what are you even saying? I would never — forget it, it's too complicated to explain. I'm leaving."

And with that, she was out the door.

It was already dark outside. Mia called David. "Where are you?"

"Home," he said simply.

"The castle?"

"Where else?"

Without missing a beat, Mia said, "Okay. I'm coming over."

"What for?" David asked, curious.

Mia didn't bother dancing around it. "What do you think? You really planning to keep all of that to yourself?"

David let out a long sigh. If he'd known this many people would be after that land, he would've just thrown that eight percent in with everything else he gave to Fox.

"Don't bother coming. I just got out of the shower and I'm in bed," he said flatly.

Mia didn't care. "I'll be there soon. If you don't let me in, I'll burn that castle of yours to the ground."

David laughed in spite of himself. Before he could say another word, she'd already hung up.

David sat in the living room watching TV. Laser grinned beside him. "Boss, who was that? Pretty bold talk — burn the castle down?"

David laughed, though there was a hint of guilt in it. "That was Mia. Honestly, I do feel a little bad about what happened with her."

"What do you mean?" Laser asked.

"Back then, the Cole Group was going to give the Wilson family three percent. I'd caught wind that the Cole Group was about to go under and the Cole father and son were likely going to skip town, so I mentioned it to Mia offhand. She was looking at three points for thirty million dollars, but she trusted me and turned the Coles down flat. Except now it turns out the land the Cole Group acquired is about to be developed. Three percent would've been roughly 250 acres — at today's market value, they could've made around 600 million dollars."

Laser burst out laughing.

"The Wilson family's total assets are what — and she just missed out on 600 million? No wonder Mia's talking about burning the place down. But boss, when she shows up, what are you going to do?"

David tapped his fingers slowly on the armrest, quiet for a moment, then said under his breath, "String her along for a bit."

Laser chuckled and headed toward the door. "I'll go wait at the gate then. We don't want her actually lobbing a grenade at the front door."

David waved him off. "Go ahead. She won't be here for a while."

As it turned out, Mia showed up in under forty minutes.

After Laser brought her in, David looked genuinely surprised. "Did you fly here? It takes at least an hour to drive from the city. You were speeding — you're not worried about losing your license?"

Mia's brows were knitted tight. She stormed right up to him, leaned in, and stopped with her nose barely two inches from his.

"David, you're unbelievable."

The words came out through gritted teeth — and the moment she said them, David's mind flashed back to earlier that day, to the kiss they'd shared at Seattle Grand Bistro.