Is this destiny?

At the Payne family villa…

Arthur, Gabriella, and Darlene arrived home. They didn't talk during their three-minutes long drive home.

"I want the list of your accounts and balances in my study within fifteen minutes. Cash, stocks, unmovable assets. I need to know how much you own.", Arthur announced to his wife and daughter.

Darlene didn't like this. "How much I own?"

Arthur sneered. "Yes. I have access to my and our joint accounts. I need to know how much you can contribute. Or you don't want to clear your name?"

Darlene's brows furrowed. "That is not what I said…"

"Then, get busy! The time is running out.", Arthur reminded Darlene and Gabriella.

"What will you do?", Gabriella asked apprehensively. She wants a divorce and if she gives him the money that she is keeping in her hidden account, wouldn't that be foolish?

"I want to see how much we have.", Arthur responded to Gabriella. "Each of us contributed to this mess, and it's only fair that each of us contributes to cleaning it up. I am aware that neither of you is penniless. Your cosmetics business is not negative and Darlene is getting a substantial allowance. I will take care of the company and my image. I expect that you can handle expenses for yourself."

"I don't have five million dollars.", Gabriella said in a shaky voice, hoping that Arthur is not aware of her accounts abroad.

Darlene vigorously nodded in support of that statement. She does not have five million dollars either!

Arthur looked at both of them in disapproval. It's not that he does not believe them, but he dislikes that in a time of need his wife and daughter are useless. Well, this is not the time for fighting. "Show me how much you have. If you are lacking a bit, I will add."

"How much is that 'a bit'?", Gabriella asked suspiciously.

"I don't know. That is why I am going to check my accounts and assets. Join me when you get your numbers straight.", Arthur hissed and went to his study.

"Daddy!", Darlene's call made him stop in his tracks.

"Yes?"

Darlene bit her lower lip and her eyes swelled with tears. "What about that one million?"

Arthur narrowed his eyes. On top of them being attacked by some cyber-bully, Darlene went ahead to cause trouble with the White family! How stupid is she?

"How many times I told you to watch your temper? How many times did I tell you to watch your tongue? But noooo, you went and insulted Whites in their own house! Darlene, you are twenty-five years old. It is time for you to pay for your own mistakes. I remember how you said more than once that you want me to treat you as a grownup. Well, this is your chance…" Arthur didn't finish his sentence. He went to his office, leaving bewildered Darlene in the hallway.

He can't believe how those two women expect him to pay for everything. It's twenty-one million dollars! And even if Darlene and Gabrielle give him all the money needed to save their own reputations, in the end, he still needs to pay ten million dollars! Ah, that is a lot of money. Do they think that he can print bills? He worked hard for what he has!

Arthur can see that Darlene and Gabrielle don't approve the deal he made with Aiden, and he is not thrilled about it either, but what is the alternative? With all the news circulating on the internet, and his partners threatening to stop their support, they are heading toward bankruptcy. And possibly jail.

If his business goes down, his accounts will be depleted within two (or maybe three) months, and the bank will request payments for the loans he accumulated over time. With his image and business ruined, he will lose everything. However, the deal with Aiden White will allow him to salvage something.

That is how business works: you look at all the options and pick the one which benefits you the most. And Arthur knows that between certain doom and partial salvaging which the Whites can offer, he will pick the latter.

Arthur sees a silver lining in this: if the deal with Aiden goes well, he will create a positive impression and connection to the White family. Arthur does not know of a single person who is on good terms with the Whites and doing badly. Even if all the money is gone, under the shadow of Whites, he can rebuild his connections and reputation and his business will be several folds better than it is. After all, everyone wants to get closer to the Whites, and this is his chance.

Yes. The more he thinks about this, the more he is confirming how those ten million dollars are trifling.

With renewed vigor, Arthur powered up his PC and checked trending headlines. He can see that there are more of them, and netizens are discussing their dirty laundry which is now in the open. Nosy gossips, don't they have a life?

Arthur reminded himself to focus.

Aiden White will make all this better and he needs to figure out from which accounts he will take the ten million dollars.

Fifteen minutes later…

Arthur sighed. When he looks at all of his bank accounts, stocks, and available credit limits (in the United States) he can barely collect a million and a half.

He will need to reach into his offshore accounts.

Arthur is not eager to tap into those accounts; there is a lot of money there, and every time he accesses any of those accounts, there is a chance that the activity will be traced. That money is not reported for tax, and no one should know about it.

Arthur wondered, how did the information about those accounts reach into those online articles? But he checked, there are no account numbers, so even if the police come, he can say that someone is slandering him. There is no proof, and the US government does not have a deal with those countries to disclose financial information. Arthur is certain of that because he checked when he opened those accounts. Well, that was more than twenty years ago, but he is sure that as long as there are no specific details about the accounts, the law can't touch him.

Arthur has a plan: he will open a separate account under an alias and transfer ten million dollars there.

Before scheduling money transfer from his offshore accounts, Arthur made a call to his stockbroker to sell all of the stocks. It might take a day until that money is settled, and he wants to make sure all the funds are available by Friday. And if he has the money earlier, it will create a better impression for Aiden.

…

Darlene fumed.

Why did she sign as a collateral two apartments which she owns? She was rash to do so. One is downtown Austin, and the other one is downtown Dallas. Each of those apartments is worth more than three million dollars!

Darlene exhaled in defeat. She does not have enough money in her accounts. She already told her stockbroker to sell her stocks and by the current rate, that will be less than half a million dollars. And those stocks with the cash on her bank accounts add up to seven hundred thousand dollars. Still not enough. She exhaled and went to her father's study.

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