Farewell to Love: The CEO's Desperate Chase novel Chapter 741

Frederick flashed a predatory smile, his gaze sweeping the room before landing on Chloe. Chloe simply shrugged, offering no further reaction.

Frederick pressed on, his tone laced with a thinly veiled threat. "Think about it, Caleb. If I walk out that door right now, do you honestly believe this room can scrape together three hundred million dollars?"

Caleb froze.

He knew his closely guarded secret had somehow leaked just hours ago.

Half the people sitting here were already looking for an excuse to fold.

If this funding round had any hope of closing, he needed Frederick and Chloe to stay at the table.

As for Emilia, he didn't dare place his bets on her. Dennis Capital was barely off the ground. Sure, she was engaged to Theodore, but she had publicly declared she would rebuild the Dennis family empire with her own two hands.

Sensing the shifting dynamics, Caleb forced a polite smile. "You make a fair point," he conceded.

He turned to the room. "Everyone, we established a threshold for this round, so..."

The crowd murmured in agreement.

It had been clear from the start.

"I have another condition," Frederick interrupted, drawing all eyes back to him.

"I'm raising the stakes."

Emilia narrowed her eyes at him.

"The original buy-in was thirty million," Frederick continued smoothly. "I want it raised to at least eighty million."

Immediate backlash erupted around the table.

"What's the meaning of this, Frederick?" an older executive demanded. "Thirty million was the agreed-upon number. Verifying that was fine, but where did this sudden hike come from?"

"Exactly," another chimed in. "How much we invest is our business. You don't even work for Aegis Dynamics. What gives you the right to dictate the rules?"

One, fold and beg him for mercy, in which case he'd let it slide since he didn't care about this project anyway.

Two, walk away.

Three, break her own vow of independence and beg Theodore for a bailout.

If she went crawling to Theodore, her grand opening speech about standing on her own two feet would become a complete joke.

If she walked away, all her hard work would turn to ash, serving as a brutal lesson.

It would add severe weight to the three warnings he had given her before.

Caleb tried to intervene, sensing the tension. "That's not exactly fair, Frederick. The prospectus clearly stated thirty million. Changing it on the fly..."

Frederick cut him off with a chilling smile. "Let me reconsider, then. How about a hundred million?"