Almost an hour passed with Elizabeth still sitting motionless at the café table, staring blankly at the spot where Elric had been. Her mind felt like it had been thrown into a blender. Slowly, she finally came back to her senses. With slightly shaky hands, she picked up her phone and dialed her daughter.
"Lily," she said as soon as the call connected, "did you lie to me about the breakup?"
"Mom," came an annoyed voice from the other side, "I already told you it's none of your business."
Before Elizabeth could say anything else, Lily hung up abruptly. Elizabeth let out a long, tired sigh as she lowered the phone.
No, she knew her daughter too well. If Lily had any idea that Elric now had one billion dollars, she would glue herself to his leg and never let go, no matter how hard he tried to kick her away. But Elizabeth decided it wasn't her place to interfere. Whatever had happened between them, it had nothing to do with her anymore. Elric's sudden wealth was his own mystery.
She dialed again, this time to her boss.
"Boss, someone wants to buy the company…"
Just two days later, Elric received the good news. The owner of M&G Studio was willing to sell.
Elric didn't waste any time. He directly called Rick Johnson.
"Yeah, I want to acquire a company."
The seller wanted the money, and the buyer was ready to pay. The deal moved surprisingly fast. Although Elric had told them not to negotiate too aggressively, the final agreement still landed at 400 million dollars total — 200 million as the actual purchase price and 200 million in assumed debt.
He had wanted to offer more, but even with a billion dollars, he couldn't just casually say, "Hey, I'm in a good mood — here's another hundred million for free." That would break the system's rules and ruin the loss calculation.
Still, the company was now officially his. There was no need to rush. He would find ways to lose the rest of the money soon enough.
With both parties' signatures on the documents, M&G Studio finally transferred into Elric's name.
"Mr. Elric, if there's any chance in the future, I hope we can cooperate again," said Mr. Jorge, the previous owner, with a polite but slightly relieved smile.
"As it goes, Mr. Jorge," Elric replied smoothly.
Inside MJ Entertainment (the new official name of the studio), in the employee lounge on the third floor, several workers clustered around the coffee machine. Their voices were low but filled with excitement and gossip.
"Did you hear about the new boss?" one employee asked, glancing around nervously to make sure no supervisors were nearby.
"Yeah, I heard he's not even twenty-five years old," another replied, stirring sugar into his coffee with wide eyes. "Can you believe that?"
A woman leaning against the counter snorted loudly. "Stupid. What does his age matter? It's clearly his parents' money. Some spoiled trust fund kid playing businessman."
"But he paid four hundred million dollars," the first employee interjected, his voice rising with disbelief. "And it was all cash. No loans, no installments, no financing — just straight cash."
"Really?" The woman's skepticism wavered for a moment. "That's insane. His family must be billionaires then."
The second employee shook his head thoughtfully, lowering his voice. "To have five hundred million in liquid cash, you'd probably need at least five billion in total assets. This was most likely just practice money — pocket change from his family to teach him how society and business work. Otherwise, who in their right mind would dump this much into a second-rate movie studio like ours? Their family assets might be over ten billion."
"Ten billion?" The woman whistled softly. "That sounds exaggerated… but it does make sense. We really don't know anything about them. They might be old money — one of those families that have been wealthy for generations."
"I don't know…" one employee said, leaning in closer so the others had to huddle around him. His voice dropped to a dramatic whisper. "But I heard… he might be from a mafia family. They bought the studio to launder their dirty money and make it look clean."
"What are you whispering about?"
A strict voice cut through the conversation like a sharp knife. All the employees jumped and turned around. Standing behind them was supervisor Ethan, arms crossed, his expression unreadable.
The group scattered immediately, mumbling various excuses about urgent work as they hurried out of the lounge. Ethan caught a few last grumbling comments as they left.
"Why don't they just fire him already? Even I could do better…"
"He's been here for so many years and still hasn't done anything worthwhile…"
Ethan had grown used to the whispers over the years. Or at least, that's what he told himself. He simply turned and walked down the hallway toward the manager's office, his footsteps echoing softly.
He knocked twice before entering.
The moment the manager saw Ethan walk in, his face lit up with an exaggerated, ear-to-ear smile, as if he had just won the lottery.
"Come, come! Sit down!" he said enthusiastically, gesturing toward the chair across from his large desk. "Did you find any good projects recently? Anything promising?"
Ethan remained standing, his face blank. "No. The new boss has decided on a new direction for the company. All old projects are on hold, and he's suspended new project acquisitions until further notice."
"Oh." The manager's smile dimmed slightly. "I was too busy and didn't hear the news at all."
Busy, my ass, Ethan thought bitterly. He was definitely messing around with another new actress again. Everyone in the office knew about those so-called "private meetings."
"Yes," Ethan said aloud, keeping his tone perfectly professional. "I assume you also didn't read the notification about today's meeting. I came to inform you, just in case."
The manager leaned back in his expensive leather chair, still smiling confidently. "Ethan, you know me the best." His grin widened again. "When is the meeting exactly?"
"Now," Ethan replied simply.
The smile froze on the manager's face. "You mean… right now?"
"Yes. I'm heading there immediately."
This bastard, the manager thought furiously. He definitely did this on purpose — giving me no time to prepare. But he couldn't say anything out loud. After all, Ethan was like a chicken that laid golden eggs. Too valuable to completely alienate.
Because of Ethan's talent for spotting promising scripts, His year-end bonus last year had been over 40 thousand dollars, and it has been like this for many years. This guy had an almost supernatural eye for hits. After taking credit for Ethan's discoveries, Ali had been promoted from assistant to the general manager in just few years.
"Let's go then," the manager said, standing up and straightening his tie. He had heard the new boss was quite young. There shouldn't be any problem winning him over with smooth talk and flattery.
Ethan followed obediently, his expression remaining blank. It wasn't like he hadn't tried to fight back before. But it was already too late. The toxic pattern had been set too firmly.
When Ali first stole his credit, Ethan had been young and naive. He thought things would improve eventually, that his hard work would be properly recognized. But it only got worse.
After the third time, when he finally reported it to upper management, no one believed him. They nearly fired him for making false accusations against a "respected" manager. Ironically, the manager himself had stepped in and "saved" him, strengthening the trap.
So the vicious cycle continued: Ethan worked hard and found potential hits. The manager took all the credit and rewards. Ethan was left with nothing. His performance reviews suffered terribly because he had "nothing to show," and the manager would then generously prevent the company from firing him.
Ethan had considered quitting many times. But he had already built a terrible reputation in the industry — labeled as the worst employee, a freeloader who couldn't deliver results. He doubted he could find another decent job. And the pay here, while not great for him personally, was still better than what he could probably get elsewhere with his damaged record.
So he endured it. Four long years of mockery from colleagues, constant belittlement from his superior, and watching someone else steal his achievements.
At home, he had a two-year-old child and a wife who depended on him. A mortgage. Bills that never stopped coming.
So he kept enduring it. Day after day. Month after month. Year after year.