Chapter 219: Third Brother, You’re a Real Dog
At that moment, Arabella Donovan, who had followed Guinevere Preston to the small kitchen for a snack, was still unaware of the in-depth discussion the two men were having about her inside the room.
Guinevere Preston saw her gnawing on a freshly steamed meat bun with one hand while poking at her phone with the other, her expression quite grave. "Are you in some kind of trouble?" she asked with concern.
"I’m looking at the accounts of the people who sent me money tonight."
"What are you looking at those for? Planning to send the money back?"
"Yes. And I also want to write down their names so I can send them a gift in return for the New Year." After all, whether she needed the money or not was one thing, but what they did tonight was a godsend. It’s the thought that counts, and she couldn’t forget this kindness.
Guinevere Preston understood her intentions perfectly and smiled. "Then why do you look like that?"
Arabella Donovan’s face fell, and she stopped eating her bun. "Because I realized way too many people sent me money, and I don’t even recognize a lot of them! I can’t put faces to the names at all!"
No kidding. The big family group chat her parents had started had about a hundred people in it.
Excluding those who weren’t active online and those who were out for the evening and hadn’t checked their phones, well over half of them had sent Arabella money. That added up to at least fifty or sixty people.
Although Arabella had met many relatives with Mr. and Mrs. Donovan on her birthday, expecting her to suddenly put faces to all fifty or sixty of those names was simply asking the impossible.
Guinevere Preston was taken aback for a moment, then she couldn’t help but laugh. "What’s so hard about that? Just write down the names and ask your parents. I’m sure they’ll know."
"Oh, right." As if a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders, Arabella quickly started refunding the money and jotting down the names.
Even so, refunding all of her relatives took a considerable amount of effort.
Once she was more or less done, Arabella noticed there was still some money left in the account. It was from Mr. and Mrs. Donovan, and her older brothers and sisters.
Arabella compared the amounts carefully. She was surprised to discover that, apart from her parents, the sibling who had sent her the most money wasn’t her first or second brother, but... her third brother?
He had sent her a whopping eighty million!
"Aurora, where did you get so much money?"
She could understand her eldest brother—he ran a company. She could understand her second brother, too—he acted in movies and TV shows and did commercial endorsements. And she especially understood her fourth sister, who had recently inherited her biological parents’ estate and was now a bona fide rich girl.
’But my third brother is still just a student. Never mind earning money, he’s constantly burning through cash for his experiments. Where could he have gotten so much?’
When Aurora heard this, he immediately recalled how Arabella had deliberately skipped over him when she was asking for money earlier. He scoffed. "What’s this? Looking down on your third brother? That eighty million is prize money from a car race I won, plus the seed money our eldest brother gave me for a personal research project."
"...So you’re taking money our eldest brother gave you and passing it off as your own gift?"
Aurora was unabashed. "He gave it to me, so it’s mine. How is it not from me?"
Arabella was dumbfounded. "You’d even dare to give me your research project’s seed money? Aren’t you afraid I won’t be able to pay you back and will just keep it?"
"Nope. In fact, since I’m supporting you so much, just remember to pay me back double when the time comes."
Arabella: "???"
"On what grounds?! Even a loan shark wouldn’t be so ridiculously greedy! Who gave you the audacity? Who!"
"On the grounds that I’m sure you’d never get into a losing business deal. Little Sis, don’t forget me when you’re rich and famous!"
Listening to that smug voice on the other end of the line, Arabella felt her fists clenching.
’How can anyone be so damn punchable? That scoundrel... he really is something else!’
After hanging up with Aurora, Arabella felt completely drained. She slumped into her chair, feeling like her soul had just left her body.
Guinevere Preston had been watching while Arabella was on the phone. It was rare to see her bickering with someone like that, and the smile on Guinevere’s face grew wider. "Your third brother is pretty funny. How come I didn’t realize he was this interesting when he came over with you before?"
"...I only just found out today myself." ’I had no idea he could be such a scoundrel. Great, another layer of my ’campus heartthrob’ illusion has just been shattered.’
However, Arabella’s eyes drifted to a few other entries in the transaction history as if she’d just realized something. Her fingertip paused on the transfer from Justin Donovan.
Compared to the similar amounts from Hector Donovan, Eloise Donovan, and Aurora Donovan, Justin Donovan’s ten million was glaringly out of place.
It wasn’t that he was stingy. Justin had been the one to give her most of her allowance when she first came home, and most of the money currently in her bank account had come from him, too.
But that was precisely why his transfer record seemed so out of place among the others from her family.
’Don’t tell me... has Eldest Brother run into some kind of trouble?’
"You’ve run into trouble?" Before Arabella could dwell on it, Caspian Rhodes’s voice cut in, completely shattering her train of thought.
"Grandpa, Mr. Rhodes, are you two finished talking?"
"We’re finished," Desmond Donovan said, shooting Caspian Rhodes a sour look.
Arabella: "???" ’Why do I get the feeling that in just that short time, Grand-uncle’s dislike for Mr. Rhodes has... intensified?’
"I hear you two are planning to partner up and develop that plot of land you won at the auction tonight."
Arabella shot Caspian a surprised glance. ’He told Grand-uncle about it already?’
"We’ve been thinking about it. What do you think, Grand-uncle? Or perhaps you have your own development team? If that’s the case, I don’t have to partner with Mr. Rhodes."
Arabella’s words actually left Desmond Donovan speechless. The corner of his mouth twitched as he forced a smile. "I only know how to buy properties, not how to build them."
"...Oh."
"Fine. Since you two intend to partner up, draw up a formal contract. Get the terms of cooperation, profit-sharing, and all that sorted out beforehand. Serena, you’ve never been in business, so you don’t understand all the intricacies. Once you’ve entrusted the land to him, let him handle everything. If anyone asks about it, just tell them to talk to him."
This was exactly what the two of them had just discussed. The Rhodes family had business interests in every industry. As long as they followed the proper procedures and had Desmond Donovan’s connections to open doors for them, the land could be put to use very quickly.
As for the major families that might become obstacles, the Rhodes family’s involvement would make it easy to shift their attention from Arabella to Caspian.
Compared to an inexperienced novice with no backing, a capable and resourceful heir from a prestigious family, backed by a corporate giant and who could usurp them at any moment, was far more likely to instill a sense of crisis in those with ulterior motives.
From there, whether they chose to cooperate or compete would depend on the vision and position of these arrogant, so-called "great families." After all, everyone wants a piece of the pie. Unless it was absolutely necessary, no one would willingly pass up a chance to make money.