Chapter 392 An Overnight Fortune
"Zara, you're finally back! Why do your missions keep taking longer and longer? Are they getting harder, or are you just getting weaker?"
Zara fell silent.
What an aggravating sister. She had barely gotten home, and Karen was already running her mouth.
"Enough. Go to school with Soraya."
Karen still looked reluctant at the mention of school, but she took Soraya with her and left.
She clearly had no idea that Cyranth had visited the house the night before.
In fact, Cyranth had come all the way to Earth without attracting anyone's attention.
Zara saw no reason to tell Allen. The news would probably scare the piss out of him.
She did tell Lucian, however.
When Lucian heard that Cyranth had shown up the previous night, he raised an eyebrow. "He only came to see Soraya?"
Lucian had expected Cyranth to lose control after finding her. Apparently, the man possessed far more restraint than he had anticipated.
Then again, Cyranth had been alive for who knew how long. It was hardly surprising that he could keep his emotions under control.
Zara clicked her tongue. "Yeah. He went to look for Soraya's spirit. Apparently, if he can't recover it, she'll never grow up."
Matters this mystical were well outside Lucian's area of expertise. After filling him in, Zara was about to hang up when he suddenly said, "Wait."
"What?" Zara asked. "Do you have more bad news you forgot to mention?"
Lucian fell silent.
This woman could ruin the mood at any given moment.
Still, he held back his irritation. Thinking about what she had done the day before, he pressed his lips together. When he finally spoke, his voice sounded faintly awkward.
"Thank you for bringing that matter up with Allen yesterday."
Handing Lucian the information to study had been simple enough. The real challenge was finding a legal way to introduce the technology later.
By mentioning it to Allen, Zara had solved a major problem for him.
That morning, Lucian had already received official approval for the joint research project. His team had even been granted access to share certain government research and technical data.
The arrangement only covered the development of internet-related technologies, but that was more than enough.
That was why he had called to thank her.
Zara raised an eyebrow in surprise.
Lucian actually knew how to say thank you?
"No need," she said. "You did buy me property, so I suppose I should be grateful too."
Lucian understood the difference in value far better than she did.
"The information you gave me is worth far more than a few houses. How about this? You keep saying you're short on money. I hold a number of investments and shares in several major corporations. I own fifty percent of Martin Family Group. I'll give you half of my stake."
Zara fell silent.
Half?!
Was Lucian giving away a fortune?
The offer felt so unreal that she could not help asking, "Why are you suddenly giving me half?"
"Because the information you gave me is worth that much."
In truth, it was worth far more.
Lucian could not transfer any more because he still needed to maintain control of the company.
Zara, on the other hand, would not have to do anything. She could simply sit back and collect the dividends.
Once the shares were transferred, she would practically land on the Forbes rich list overnight.
She began to stammer. "Th-This..."
The sudden windfall did not feel real.
Lucian paused. "You think it's too little?"
Then he remembered that this woman had once planned to wait around and inherit his fortune after he died.
This was only half of his stake in Martin Family Group, and the company did not represent his entire net worth. Perhaps she truly did consider the offer insufficient.
The reasoning made sense, but Lucian still felt deeply offended.
There was something profoundly unpleasant about knowing someone was looking forward to his death.
"N-No," Zara said. "It's not that."
People were funny that way.
Zara might have spent every day looking forward to inheriting Lucian's fortune, but now that part of it had fallen into her lap by other means, she still found it rather sudden.
That was all.
It was simply too sudden.
And honestly, this was a little awkward.
The man was still alive, yet she was taking half his stake for nothing...
If he were dead, she probably could have accepted it with a clearer conscience. After all, if she did not take the money, someone else would.
But accepting it while he was still alive felt entirely different.