Love After a Steamy Affair

Chapter 87: You Can Only Gamble Once
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
She put the book back in its original place and continued her tour of Gabriel’s study room. That was when she accidentally discovered the bidding documents for Haverford Corporation’s land in a folder on the desk.
Haverford Corporation’s land was very close to the urban area. The geographical location had a great advantage and had the potential to turn into a resort, a leisure villa, and a school.
With one look at the figures on the bid, even Serenity could tell why Zephyr had a vested interest in the land too.
Gabriel had already signed the bidding document, which meant that he had already given his approval.
By the time she left Gabriel’s villa, it was already half past nine at night. Without wasting another second, Serenity left South Bay.
It was ten o’clock when she reached home. As she walked toward her room, she passed by the study on the second floor and saw Benjamin sitting in front of the computer through the crack in the door. She wondered what he was busy with.
He held a cigarette between his fingers on his right hand, filling the room filled with smoke. It was obvious he was very anxious as his eyebrows were tightly knitted together.
She did not know how Rivers Group was doing but knew that Benjamin had been coming back very late recently. She heard from Mrs. Walter that he had been socializing every day and had gotten drunk twice.
She braced herself and knocked on the door. Benjamin’s slightly hoarse voice croaked, “Come in.”
Serenity pushed the door open. “Hi, Dad.”
When Benjamin saw that it was her, the furrow in his eyebrows deepened as he extinguished the cigarette between his fingers in the ashtray. “What’s the matter?”
She walked over and opened the window. The air instantly circulated and the smoke gradually dissipated. “It’s already so late. Are you still busy?”
Benjamin hummed a yes and returned his attention to the information on the computer. His fingers continued typing on the keyboard as he said, “How’s work these days?”
“It’s good.” Seeing that he was busy, she was about to head to her room to rest so as not to disturb him.
But then, Benjamin’s elbow knocked off a document from the table so she walked over to pick it up for him. She was about to put it back on the table when she accidentally caught sight of the title of the document and her eyebrows twitched.
She looked at Benjamin in shock. “Dad, are you bidding for Haverford Corporation’s land as well?”
Benjamin heard the surprise in her voice and looked at her. He frowned slightly as he said, “This is the only chance for River Group to turn the tables.”
“Dad, this piece of land has an excellent location. There will be many companies bidding for it. I think you should just give up.”
She had seen Gabriel’s bid. Benjamin’s bid was far from his and the proposal was also inferior to Zephyr Group’s. How could he win?
When Benjamin heard her, his expression turned ugly.
She thought he would scold her, but he didn’t.
Instead, Benjamin threw her a stack of documents. They were all about the current situation of Rivers Group. The finance department had reported a loss of more than ten million dollars and the performance of the other departments was not as good as before. The group was not making a profit at all.
The more she looked, the more frightened she felt. The huge company was almost at the point of collapse.
“If this bid fails, the Rivers family will probably disappear from the business world.” Benjamin was not very confident in the bid, but it was the only best move he had left.
“But-”
Gabriel’s bid was perfect. No other company would be able to compare to it, let alone Rivers Group.
Based on Gabriel’s proposal, Haverford Corporation’s land was almost guaranteed to be his. Other companies had almost no chance of winning.
Serenity lowered her eyes as Benjamin stared coldly at her. “But based on the current situation of Rivers Group, how could you have so much money to bid?”
Benjamin knew this was a cause for concern. After a moment of silence, he said, “I will think of a way..”