Chapter 415 She Is Stupid
Thalia did not expect to return empty-handed. Even after stepping out of the mansion, she still refused to accept reality. “Are you sure you don't want to know who Alexander's biological mother is?”
Sophia stood in a distance, flashing her a half-smile. “I'm not as curious as you think, Ms. Xenos.”
Just as Thalia, who was desperate for money, was racking her brain to come up with something to persuade Sophia, she heard the sound of a car approaching in her direction.
She froze, looked to the side, and noticed it was Alexander's car.
Seeing Alexander's car from a distance, she did not dare to linger any longer despite her reluctance to leave just like that.
Thalia bit her lip resentfully and ran off before his car could come close.
Sophia stood in the courtyard, wondering why she had fled. What's wrong with her? Am I a man-eating monster?
Soon, realization dawned on Sophia.
The gate was not shut, so the black car entered the mansion right away.
A smile nudged Sophia's lips when she saw Alexander in the driver's seat. I see. That's why she ran away.
After watching Alexander drive into the garage, Sophia lifted her hand to shut the gate and returned to the mansion.
“Was Thalia here just now?” Alexander stepped out of the garage and held her hand.
Sophia bobbed her head in response. “She said she knew who your biological mother was and promised to tell me if I rewarded her fifty million.”
After a short pause, she continued, “She seems to be desperate for money.”
Alexander's expression turned frosty when he heard that. “Of course, she is.”
Sophia asked curiously, “Hmm? What happened to her?”
Alexander narrowed his eyes and looked at Sophia, the coldness in his gaze fading away. “She and her colleague misappropriated the company's money to trade stocks, and they lost more than three million.”
In the past, three million was merely the amount Thalia received as her monthly allowance, and she could easily get that amount of money as long as she whined to Alexander or Kristen, but times had changed.
The Leonard incident had pitted Alexander against Kristen, and since then, Thalia could no longer live it up like she used to. Kristen was reluctant to give her three hundred thousand as her monthly allowance, let alone three million.
In addition, Kristen had spent a considerable amount of money trying to get someone to help Leonard, who had gotten into trouble. She had even invested a large sum of money just for a chance to collaborate with Dillion.
Back then, Alexander's grandfather disliked Kristen, as well as Leonard and Thalia. That was why he only gave Zachary enough money to sustain a luxurious lifestyle for the rest of his life instead of transferring the shares of his company to him.
Furthermore, regardless of everything, Zachary was still Alexander's biological father. As long as Odyssey did not collapse, Beau believed Alexander would still take care of Zachary even if Zachary had spent all the money Beau left for him. With that in mind, Beau, who initially wanted to leave most of his assets to Zachary, decided to just give him one-tenth of his fortune—that was equivalent to more than five hundred million.
Zachary was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, so he was used to living a life of luxury. However, after Beau's passing, his behavior became even more outrageous, and more often than not, Alexander had to clean up his mess for him. At the time of his death, Zachary's only remaining assets were a mansion worth over a hundred million, two other properties, and thirty million in cash left for Kristen.
After Zachary's death, Kristen sold the mansion. Despite having three billion in cash, she still relied on the Xenos family's resources.
If it weren't for the falling out between Sophia and Alexander, Kristen would have been able to save up a lot of money for Leonard to use following her demise.
However, following the fallout, Kristen had a hard time sustaining her lifestyle and supporting Thalia and Leonard.
To make matters worse, Leonard turned out just like Zachary the moment he was born, but the only difference was that Zachary had the support of the Xenos family while Leonard did not. Consequently, in the last six months, Kristen spent over fifty million dollars on Leonard alone.
Kristen's spending habits without a steady income left her with no choice but to halt Thalia's monthly allowance of three hundred thousand, using the money to bail Leonard out instead.
Thalia had never experienced such financial hardship before. After throwing tantrums a few times, she finally learned that Leonard was the only apple of Kristen's eye. Despite a brief moment of hesitation, she decided to use the company funds to trade stocks when her colleague told her about the insider news.
The stock Thalia invested in was an overseas stock. She had observed its recent performance and discerned the prices had been steadily rising albeit not too noticeably.
At first, Thalia had reservations, but her colleague convinced her that taking risks was necessary to reap the rewards. She also warned her that it would be too late to capitalize on the stock's success if others learned about it.
Thalia thought about it and realized what her colleague said made sense. She mustered the courage and withdrew the money from the company's account.
Initially, Thalia and her colleague had planned to sell the stock after two weeks. Even if the information were unreliable, the stock price would not fluctuate excessively, and she also was prepared to lose tens of thousands.
However, just two days ago, when they were about to sell the stock, it suddenly hit the limit down and continued to fall for three consecutive days.
As the company was about to check the accounts by the end of the month, Thalia could not recover the three million she took. Should she fail to do so, she could face a minimum of five years in prison for the crime.
She tried asking Kristen for money but to no avail.
Thalia had no choice but to go and look for Sophia behind Kristen's back.
She demanded fifty million because she wanted to flee the country for good with the remaining forty million after paying back the three million eighty hundred thousand.
Thalia believed she could manage with just five million if Sophia declined to give her the fifty million. However, to her surprise, Sophia showed no interest in the insider information, and Thalia ended up with nothing.
Before Thalia could continue to negotiate with Sophia, Alexander returned.
At this point, Thalia was terrified of Alexander. Back when she was still the pampered princess of the Xenos family, she thought Alexander was a powerful man. Even when others criticized him for his terrifying methods of handling things, she was still proud of him.
But now that she was no longer a member of the Xenos family, Thalia was like a deer in headlights whenever she bumped into Alexander. She would scamper away as quickly as her legs could carry her.
Thalia ran for a while until she was out of breath and stopped.
The accounts would be checked the day after tomorrow, but currently, she only had a little over three hundred thousand in her possession. To make things worse, Kristen had also sold off all the jewelry pieces she owned.
Thalia had never felt so desperate before. She hated Kristen, Alexander, and above all, Sophia!
Everything changed the moment Sophia entered her life. If it were not for Sophia, she would still be a member of the Xenos family, enjoying the envy and compliments of the other socialites. She would not have to resort to desperate measures for money.
Upon hearing what Alexander said, Sophia looked at him, her eyes curving slightly. “Did someone deceive her?”
Alexander walked out of the kitchen holding a glass of water and approached Thalia, handing it to her. “Yes.”
Sophia took over the glass, lowered her head to take a sip, and tutted. “Poor thing.”
After a short pause, she lifted her head to look at the man. “Are you not going to help her?”
After all, they had been siblings for more than twenty decades.
Alexander glanced at her and responded, “Why should I?”
Upon hearing that, Sophia could not help but chuckle. “You're right. There really isn't any reason for you to help her.”
Thalia was neither related to Alexander by blood nor a member of the Xenos family, yet she had been enjoying all the privileges for decades. She should have counted her blessings.
She only had herself and her foolishness to blame.
Sophia believed Thalia had every right to be mad at Kristen and her colleague. But it's not fair for her to blame Alexander and me.
Sophia took another sip of water and thought of what Thalia had said earlier before letting out a snort. “According to Thalia, Dillon had devised another plan to take you down.”
Alexander knitted his brow slightly. “I'll get Felix to keep an eye on him.”
“Okay,” she replied.
Sophia could not help but wonder how Thalia could be so naive and foolish to reveal such critical information during a negotiation. If Thalia had approached the situation differently, Sophia might have considered giving her the money.
Seeing Sophia bow her head and smile, Alexander looked down at her and asked, “What's so funny?”
Upon hearing his words, Sophia lifted her head and looked at him, her almond-shaped eyes curving slightly from the smile she was wearing. “It's obvious Thalia is not your sister.”
She walked over to the side and placed the glass of water on the coffee table in front of the couch. “Because she's stupid—like really stupid.”
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