Chapter 102: Eva's Offer

Seeing that everyone was finished with their food, Eva stood up. She made her way to the slightly elevated platform and went in front of the circular microphone.

"I hope everyone enjoyed tonight's meal." Eva surveyed the audience. The only person left eating was Loo. However, he stopped as he saw Eva made her way to the small stage.

Eva continued "Now we all know why you are all here. A lot of you want to know when we'll start distributing the drinks and not just sell them at 'The Corner'. We'll do it by the start of next month. We'll be distributing both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. Just come to my table if you have something to say or if you want to discuss business."

With that, she left and went back to the place where Marcus and the others were. Her steps were graceful and never hurried. She calmly walked back under the stupefied gazes of everyone in the vicinity.

The leaders of the Strongwald family couldn't believe what they heard. People had to go to her. They won't be placed in a room or anything, but they just had to walk up and stand in front of her. 

"Is she out of her mind?" Senator Bong looked at each and every one of the Strongwald family members.

He continued. "She wants us to go to her? Does she plan on humiliating us?"

Everyone at their table remained silent. They all thought that the owner of Asura was being all high and mighty. 

The Frey family also had the same thoughts. 

Frieg's brows were scrunched as he imagined himself, a president walking up to a woman from a third-rate state who had just recently received attention. He couldn't swallow his pride to do that.

However, the other three families had no problem as they didn't need to walk up to Eva.

A few minutes later, a man stood up. He slowly made his way to the table where Marcus and the others sat. 

All eyes were now on him.

Lopard, the man walking, swallowed his pride as he walked under the gazes of not only the five families but other important people.

'What can pride get you?' That is what he thought as he arrived in front of Marcus and the others.

For the first few seconds, no words were uttered. Only the sound similar to that of cricket could be heard.

Marcus, Emily, Eva, and Nexus stared at the man.

Lopard cleared his throat. "Good evening, my name is Lopard and I have an offer that would be beneficial to both your company and mine."

His eyes were on Eva, it slowly went down to her tits but he immediately retracted it. 

"Oh, An offer?" Eva placed both of her hands on the table. "It's not about getting a share of my company is it?"

"No, it's not that." Lopard dryly chuckled. "You said that you would start distributing the drinks to different stores and such all over the country. I would like for Asura to first distribute their drinks to my shopping malls."

"Continue," Eva gestured. Although what Lopord said sounded absurd, she still wanted to listen.

The surrounding people who heard this were shocked. Some genuinely think he's stupid, others think he's smart.

"As a businessman, I, of course, knew what you were doing." Lopard continued. "You didn't distribute your products to stores so the demand will rise, especially since 'The Corner' only opens around 8:30 pm."   

Eva smiled. "A lot of people know that, but go on."

Lopord took a deep breath. "Don't you think the demand will once again rise if you only distribute it to my shopping malls first? After a month, that's when you start openly distributing to other places."

"Alright, for the first month, I want fifty percent of the profit from the drinks that were sold." Eva calmly said.

Lopard's eyes widened. "That, that, don't you think that's too greedy?"

Eva raised her right hand. "I'm not finished. I also want fifteen percent of your business."

The people who were listening couldn't believe what they were hearing. 

At the Minser table, Doo's mouth was hung agape. "That woman is insane."

Loo chuckled. "I told you, the Strongwald won't be getting a single piece of the company."

At the Xalia table, Rey Xalia's brows twitched as he heard what Eva said. 

The families and the unaffiliated individuals were taken aback. They never expected Eva to be like this.

"So? Do we have a deal?" Eva asked seeing that Lopard turned silent. "Imagine all the customers flocking at your mall every day. I'm sure the reason for you suggesting this is because you want more people to visit your mall. Not only would they buy these special drinks but other products too."

Lopard's heart began racing, his thoughts colliding. 

Marcus, Emily, and Nexus were all happily smiling on the inside, but outside they had their poker face on.

"Deal!" A word came out of Lopard's mouth.

The same as before, some people thought he was stupid, others thought he was smart. 

Lopard owned the biggest malls all over the country which were named Gelin. These were created through blood and sweat, but now fifteen percent of it was no longer his.

Eva smiled. "Good choice. We'll see you at the office on Monday."

Lopard nodded. He got a handkerchief from his pocket and walked back to his seat while wiping off the sweat that's running down his forehead.

Eva turned to Marcus who gave her a double thumbs-up.

No one else talked to Eva about business after that. 

The families interacted peacefully with each other throughout the whole dinner, and the Frey and Strongwald showed no signs of hostility towards each other.

An hour or so later, everyone started leaving. Owen talked with Marcus for a few minutes before leaving. Zoey stayed for the night per Emily's request, she immediately asked to use the comfort room inside the house. Leo and drove Maya home, and Loo went home together with his dad.

Frieg stood in front of Eva together with his wife and son. "Your drinks were amazing, I'm sure that it could help a lot of people, especially those who are stuck at the Elite Stage. In the future, maybe you can even create a drink that can help Commander's and higher stages in their breakthrough." 

Luten chimed in. "Thank you so much for making these drinks. For Elites like us, it truly means a lot."

Eva smiled. "Of course, I made these drinks not to make money but to help people."

President Frieg's brow twitched. 

The Frey family soon bid their goodbyes after a minute or two of small talk.

The last to leave were the four leaders of the Strongwald family.

They walked towards Marcus and the others who were currently saying goodbye to the guests.

Eva looked at the incoming Strongwald men.

"We haven't had the chance to talk a while ago, let me introduce myself. I am Merts Strongwald, Vice President of Estra." Merts spoke as he and his family neared.

Senator Bong's eyes were darting between Eva and Emily. Seemingly unable to choose which one to stare at.

"Yes, we haven't," Eva replied.

"Actually we're not here to say goodbye. We want to talk to you about something." Merts wanted to find a room, sit down, and talk.

Eva nodded. "Alright."

Silence descended after that.

"Shouldn't you guys say something?" Marcus asked.

The four Strongwald men looked at each other. Pald cleared his throat. "I think it would be best if we could discuss this while sitting down."

"Sitting down, standing up, it's all the same thing. Since we're now, why not just say what you have to say." Marcus didn't want to waste time by entertaining these people inside their house.

Bong lightly scoffed. "You know kid, when adults are talking, you should shut up!" 

"Just say what you have to say." Eva glared at Bong.

Vice President Merts lightly chuckled. "Alright, we'll cut to the chase."

Before Vice President Merts could even finish, Bong already spoke. "We want a share of Asura."

Eva shook her head. "It's a good thing that we didn't go in, it would really have been a waste of time. My answer is no, and will forever be no so don't try and ask that question again."

Merts brows furrowed as he heard her disrespectful tone. They knew the chances of getting it was low, but they did so anyway since Bong kept pestering them.

Bong changed his mind, he couldn't wait for two months, he wanted a piece of the cake as soon as possible, so he asked Merts to support him on this.

"Fine," Merts nodded his head. He looked at the people with him and led them away.

Before leaving, Senator Bong glanced at Eva and said in a low voice but still audible to everyone present. "You're going to regret this. Just wait and see."

----

Marcus and Nexus sat in the study room inside the Stone of Destruction. The girls were outside, in the house together with Zoey.

"We should do something," Nexus spoke.

Marcus nodded. His face, slightly red. "We could let the Strongwald family move their crosshairs away from us."

Marcus took a sip from the glass on his hand. "Do you think something was off in one of the Strongwald leaders?"

Nexus thought for a short while. "The round man looked in a hurry to leave."

Marcus poured himself a drink. "He also looked quite disinterested. It was as if he didn't want to be here."