The Bet

Malika had actually agreed to Royce and Nadia's marriage.

Impressive, he thought. This Nadia must be quite something!

Losing Royce as a son-in-law infuriated Brooks, especially after Lily's public confession to Edmond using LED billboards.

His blood pressure soared.

 He immediately called Lily, threatening her to return home.

When she blocked his number, he used the butler's phone.

"If you don't come back now, don't ever come back!"

This finally got her home. Recalling his younger daughter's recent actions, Brooks shouted at Lily to follow him into the study.

Lily took off her coat, revealing high-waisted jeans and a short white knit sweater underneath. She casually tossed her dark, wavy hair and followed Brooks, swaying her hips.

She deliberately passed by Layla, whispering something in her ear, then leisurely went upstairs. Layla's expression changed drastically, staring at Leopold and Zoya as if her blood was boiling.

---

In the study on the second floor of the Jian family mansion, Lily followed Brooks and grabbed a pack of cookies from the snack cabinet.

By the time she finished half the pack, Brooks was still scolding her.

His main points were that everything was her own fault—she was foolish, brainless, and didn't heed his advice, leading to her current miserable state.

Lily patiently sat in the swivel chair at the computer desk, leisurely eating her cookies, occasionally tapping the floor with her toes to spin around.

She seemed quite relaxed, which only infuriated Brooks more.

It felt as though all his anger was burning himself up, as Lily clearly hadn't taken in a word he said.

'Bang!' Brooks slapped the table. "Lily! What exactly do you want?"

Lily took another bite of her cookie, chewed, and swallowed.

Facing his furious, contorted face, she replied calmly.

"Are you getting senile? How can you forget what you just said?

 Didn't you say I was boldly confessing to Edmond?"

She smiled, "I'm pursuing Edmond now.

I want to marry him. Wouldn't it be good to have him as your son-in-law?"

Brooks was dumbfounded.

He was now convinced that his daughter had either been triggered like on her birthday or had truly lost her mind from her fall.

"Stop this nonsense. If you can secure Royce, that's already an achievement.

Edmond is out of your reach."

He calmed down and tried to analyze the situation for her.

"Royce and that Jiang girl aren't married yet. Edmond owes you a life debt. Whether your head is really injured or not, listen to me and go plead with Edmond.

There's still a chance to salvage this."

A man like Edmond would never be interested in a bratty, problematic girl like Lily.

 Even if she used the life debt as leverage, he'd never marry her. After all, she had been entangled with Royce for years, almost becoming his nephew's wife.

Marrying her would make him a laughingstock. Men value their pride above all.

Moreover, despite Lily's high-profile confession, Edmond had shown no reaction, clearly uninterested in her.

Lily ignored his carefully considered analysis and suddenly suggested, "How about a bet?"

"A bet?" Brooks frowned. "What bet?"

With things so critical, how could she still think of playing games?

Lily replied, "If I can marry Edmond, you give me 9% of the company shares as a dowry."

"9%?" Brooks thought she was crazy.

"That would give you 11%. Your sister has only 10% after all these years of hard work for the company. You haven't contributed anything, yet your appetite is huge."

Lily scoffed.

Only 9% and already considered too much.

This was just the beginning. She had bigger ambitions, eventually surpassing even Leopold if he didn't step up.

Lily asserted, "Marrying Edmond would bring far more value than 9% of the shares. As Edmond's father-in-law, you'd have access to numerous projects. My value far exceeds Zoya's. Can't you do the math?"

Brooks was speechless.

"You talk as if you can really marry Edmond. Let's be realistic. I'm trying to save your dignity here."

Lily picked up another cookie, crushing it slightly. Crumbs trickled from her fingers.

"My bet is the property on Changhuai Road."

"Chang... Chang... Changhuai Road?" Brooks was taken aback and fell silent.

Changhuai Road had developed rapidly in recent years, becoming the most attractive Parisian-style commercial street in Jiangyu City.

Few knew that this was a legacy from the Jian family's ancestors.

Mentioning the ancestors made Brooks feel like he was being stabbed, it hurt so much. Once, the Jian family had been glorious.

In Jiangyu City's early days, there were three pioneering wealthy families:Lily's great-grandfather, Royce's great-grandfather, and Alistair's great-grandfather.

The Zhou family's Jingshu Group is the city's leading enterprise, and the Jian family's L&S Group ranked third, right after the Qin family.