10x Cashback: Your Wealth Is Mine

49  What Was My Crime?

I'd spent time trawling through the women around twenty four year old billionaire, Wang Tae Bin and I have to say, I don't know if I should be feeling impressed or disturbed.

This dude was close to so many women, you'd think he had a billion women instead of dollars.

But one detail I found amusing was that he practically had zero women before making it big. Make of that whatever you will.

Even with all my frantic searching, I wasn't able to identify which of the women was the stamp holder. It was like searching for a needle in a haystack.

And the system wasn't about to tell me who she was through the pictures. It only works by physical proximity.

"Status." I said to myself and the blue screen appeared. I'm ashamed to say it took me too long to check for a status screen. I was too busy trying to make sure I didn't die within the next five years. Bite me.

[Status Screen]

[Name: Nicholas Voss]

[Cashback Rate: 10x (Base Rate)]

[Stamps Collected: 1/99]

[Assets: $80 million]

[Liquidity: $3 million] n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

[Liabilities: $70 million]

[Net worth: $13 million]

[Total Cashback earned: $70 million]

[Pending Cashback: N/A]

I was currently worth thirteen million. Ten million in Mila's cosmetic brand and three million in my bank account.

I'd used Cooper Real Estate to take out a loan and the agreement with Oliver hadn't been signed yet.

How will I be able to rope in Quinn if I signed the agreement now? I wanted there to be a possibility of her being able to one up her brother and come to me.

Besides, I wanted the news that Abstract Capital was interested in Sunset Inn to circulate through the industry first, before I made a move.

The other thing I've learned from my status is that there was a possibility that the Cashback rate could potentially increase or decrease. Which meant that in the future, I could get more from less, even if I didn't know how to increase my cashback rate. Yet.

I sighed, closing the screen as I scrolled through the Pine Press Country Club grounds.

My tennis bag was slung over one shoulder with a racquet handle sticking out of it like a flag. If the outfit wasn't telling everyone where I was headed, the racquet definitely was.

With the arrival of Jenny, getting of the loan, the trip to Monaco and the negotiations between Oliver and I, it's been a few weeks since I'd been here.

But now, I was back in the ring. Quinn would've had time to think through and digest everything that Jenny had said about me. I'm sure that now, Jenny would be feeling supremely confident at the fact that she'd turned Quinn against me.

Unfortunately for her, I had a secret weapon called empathy. All I needed was space to use it.

And knowing Jenny, she'd give me space. That's how confident she was.

I finally reached the tennis courts. On one court were three men, two locked in what looked like a serious match and one watching from the sidelines.

And on the next court were three women I expected to see.

Quinn, Charlotte and of course, Jenny.

I sat down on the bench beside the men's game, casually stretching as I watched.

I could see the standing guy glance at me. He was probably hoping for a match of his own. "Sorry, bro." I muttered to myself. "I have someone to meet."

Naturally, Jenny noticed me. I watched from the corner of my eye as she wandered over casually with a familiar look on her face.

The look of a predator approaching prey.

"Well, well, well." She said as she came to a stop a few feet away, crossing her arms. "Pine Press's standards really must be slipping."

"What are you doing here today, Nico?" She asked. "Finally got the profits of whatever scam you're running?"

So, that's the conclusion she'd arrived at. That I'd scammed people.

I scoffed quietly, not bothering to respond to her. I kept my eyes on the game in front of me.

"Oh, so now you're the silent type." She said, having seen that I wasn't about to engage her. "I almost didn't recognize you, considering you disappeared for a couple of weeks. Where'd you run off to? Who did you scam this time?"

I stayed silent.

The best way to deal with Jenny now was to stay silent and not give her anything to work with. She'll take your silence as a sign of defeat and she'll leave. Especially since she gets to have the last word.

She smirked at me. "Fine. Be boring. But I want you to know that whatever trick you're trying to pull, I see right through it. And it won't work."

She leaned closer to me, lowering her voice. "You don't belong here and the longer you stay, the more obvious that'll be to everyone."

With that, she turned back to join her friends. Their game was over. They joked around and it later settled into a match between Jenny and Charlotte.

Quinn watched from the sidelines, slowly drifting closer and closer to where I was.

Perfect.

When Quinn was close enough, I looked up and our eyes met. She froze like a deer in front of the headlights. I gave her a small smile and looked away.

"So, you believed it."

"What?" She blurted out.

I looked up at her with the small smile still on my face.

"You believed it. Everything Jenny told you. About how I'm a scam artist."

"Aren't you?" She asked like she'd been waiting years to ask that question.

I scoffed. "Of course not."

"Are you telling me Jenny lied to me?"

"What did she say to you?" I asked, looking away.

Quinn paused as if she was considering not answering me before speaking. "She said you've been cast out of the Voss family and you're after someone to scam."

Perfect. It was time to reel her in.

"Did Jenny mention how old I was when I was cast out of the family?"

"What?" Quinn asked in confusion.

I looked up to meet her gaze, expression serious.  "I was three."

"What could a three year old possibly have done to warrant being cast out of the family?" I asked her, speaking earnestly.

"Was it my fault that I was born? Why should I suffer for the crime of being born?" I spat.

"Why am I being cheated over my inheritance because of who I am?" I asked, breathing heavily. I stared at her like I didn't know I had begun ranting and looked away.

I could tell that what I had said had hit her hard. She was in the same position I was in. She'd been cut out of an inheritance just for being born a girl.

Whether she likes it or not, she'll soon begin to sympathize with me.

"So what if I'm beginning to build a life of my own? So what if I'm trying to become bigger than they expected of me? Is that so wrong?"

I met her gaze, my eyes burning with the fire of what I was saying.

"Is it wrong to want to succeed on my own?" I snarled. "That… doesn't give her the right to call me a scam artist."

"Ask your friend. Ask Jenny what I did wrong to be cast out of the family and you'll know your truth."

I stood, grabbing my bag.

"Believe me or not, I don't care." I said to her. "It won't stop me from trying my best to reach the top."

I turned and walked away.

God damn! I must have looked cool.