Chapter 130: Name Your Price
The next few days passed quietly.
His body was back to normal. The bruises had faded.The only thing that hadn’t changed was Jack.
The man had been awake before sunrise every day since, and every morning the heavy bag behind the villa started moving.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Liam sat in his room, the sound carrying faintly through the open window. He ignored it. His attention was fixed on the security feeds displayed across the monitor in front of him.
The villa had cameras covering the exterior grounds, the driveway, the gates, and the surrounding roads. The system was good enough to flag movement before anyone reached the property.
But Liam wasn’t satisfied.
Technology could watch a door. It couldn’t stand in front of one.He leaned back and picked up his phone. There was one person he trusted to solve that problem. He dialed.
The call was answered on the second ring.
"Liam."Rowena’s voice was calm, professional, unhurried. "I need security."
A brief pause. "You already have a system."
"I need people."Another pause, longer this time.
"Personal protection?"For the villa. And for me.Rowena seemed to weigh that. "How many?"Start with you.
Silence. Then a quiet laugh. "You mean me?"
"Yes."And what exactly am I supposed to do?
Manage the team.
That’s a bigger job than standing outside your door. "I know."She went quiet again. Liam waited.
He already knew what she was calculating not whether she wanted the job, but how much she could charge him for it.
Finally: "What kind of people?"
"Women." A pause. "Only women?"
"Yes. Thirty-eight and above."That earned a longer silence."You’ve thought this through."
"Obviously."
"Why that age?"
"I want experience." That was all Liam offered.
He wasn’t looking for people who’d be impressed by money or rattled by violence.
He wanted women who had already spent years in difficult places and knew how to stay level when things went wrong.
Rowena seemed to understand without needing more. "How many total?"
"Enough that the villa is never short-staffed."
"I’ll need time."
"How long?" A week."Too long."
"Five days."Liam considered it. "Done."
Rowena exhaled softly. "There’s something else."
"Name it."My price.
Liam leaned back in his chair. "Go ahead."
"Five hundred thousand a year."
No hesitation. "Done."
A pause, then genuine surprise in her voice. "You’re not going to negotiate?"
"No." Most people would.
"I’m not most people."
A faint laugh. "No. You’re really not."
Liam opened his banking app. Two and a half million dollars.
Five years, paid in full. He sent it before she could say another word. The confirmation landed almost instantly.
Transfer Successful.
"Check your account." Silence on the other end. A few seconds passed before Rowena spoke again.
"You’re serious."
"I am." You just paid five years upfront."That was the price."
Another pause. When she spoke again, something in her tone had shifted sharper, more careful.
"Understood."
Liam ended the call and set the phone down. Outside, the bag kept thumping.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
He glanced toward the window. Jack had been at it for hours every day since the fight.
Liam respected that.
He stood and crossed to the window. Jack was shirtless in front of the bag, sweat running down his chest and over the dark ink covering his shoulders and arms.
His hands were wrapped. His knuckles were still bruised. The bag swung hard with every strike.A straight punch. Bang. A hook. Bang. Another.
Then Jack stopped and turned, and his eyes found Liam through the glass. Neither of them moved for a moment. Then Jack wiped his face with a towel and headed for the house.
A few minutes later, he filled the doorway of Liam’s room. "You hired security."
Liam didn’t look up from the monitor. "Yes."
"How many?"
"Don’t know yet but it should it be enough."
Jack’s jaw tightened. "We’re already here."
"I know."
He folded his arms. "Then why spend millions on people?" You really think anyone’s getting through this place?
"No." Then what’s the problem?Liam turned the monitor toward him. The screen showed the main gate, quiet and empty under the afternoon light. He stared at it for a moment longer than necessary, buying himself time.
Inside, his thoughts moved in a completely different direction.
Jack would never understand the real reason.
The women Rowena was bringing were not just security. They were carefully chosen. Experienced. Mature. All of them thirty-eight and above.
Every single one of them qualified as a potential addition to the harem. And every single one of them, once claimed, would trigger the permanent 5x cashback on anything he spent on them.
That was the real calculation.
Money.
The System only paid the high cashback rate on registered MILFs. The more of them he brought into his circle, the more every future expense would return five times over.
Security was just the cleanest cover he could use. He couldn’t tell Jack any of that.
Jack lived in a world of fists and direct threats. He understood strength, pressure, and the man standing in front of him.
He did not understand systems that paid you for claiming women, or the quiet arithmetic of turning a security budget into long-term profit.
If Liam tried to explain it, Jack would either loose his respect for him or look at him like he had lost his mind.So he needed a lie that sounded true.
Liam tapped the screen lightly with one finger."The problem isn’t someone stronger than us."Jack’s faint smile faded.
Liam kept his voice even."The problem is someone smarter."He let the words hang for a second, then continued.
"You spend all your energy thinking about the man standing in front of you his size, his stance, his weapon. You decide whether you can beat him.
But what if he never comes through the gate at all? What if he poisons the water? Pays one of the delivery drivers?.
Watches the house for a month and learns the routine? Gets someone inside who doesn’t look like a threat?"
Silence settled over the study.
Jack didn’t answer right away. The earlier confidence had drained from his face,the logic was difficult to argue with. He stared at the monitor showing the empty gate, jaw tightening slightly.
Liam watched him and kept his expression neutral.Internally, he felt almost amused.
None of that is the real problem. Jack is right. The two of us are more than enough.
Nothing in this city is a real threat to us right now. But he can’t know that the women are coming here for a completely different reason.
He needed Jack to accept the explanation.
"Strength doesn’t stop any of that," Liam said quietly.
Jack still didn’t speak. He kept his eyes on the screen, the muscles in his forearms shifting as he folded his arms tighter.
Finally Jack exhaled through his nose."So that’s how it works "
Yes don’t be overconfident. liam replied
Inside, the real calculation continued without pause.
Rowena would bring the first group within days. Experienced women. All of them the right age. All of them potential entries into the harem.
Every one of them was another permanent multiplier waiting to be claimed. The security story would hold long enough for the real purpose to take root.
Jack could believe whatever he needed to believe.
As long as he never learned the actual reason the money had left the account so easily