The Love I Begged For Was Never Real novel Chapter 173

Nora immediately sat up straighter.

That made sense.

If Julian had unconditionally thrown hundreds of millions of dollars at her—even risking his company's core interests to help—she would have felt too terrified to accept such a gift.

Now that he was setting conditions, turning this into a quantifiable transaction, she actually felt a sense of relief.

She wasn't afraid of negotiating; she was only afraid of lacking the leverage to negotiate at all. A fair corporate trade was far easier to repay than an intangible debt of gratitude.

"What are your conditions? Equity in the studio, or a larger cut of the project's backend profits?"

She was prepared to bleed financially. As long as she could save Arthur's legacy and keep the studio running, she was willing to surrender all the profits.

Julian set his teacup down and folded his hands on the table.

"The first condition."

His voice was as gentle as ever, yet the words he spoke carried a bone-chilling frost. "That assistant of yours who threw the punch must vanish from this industry and this city forever."

Nora froze.

She stared at him in utter shock, her pupils dilating.

She had imagined him ruthlessly demanding studio equity, asking for all the profit dividends, or even insisting on adding his name as a co-founder of the project.

She never, in her wildest dreams, expected his first condition to have nothing to do with money or power, but to demand Janie's future.

"Julian, what did you just say?"

Her voice trembled, certain she had misheard him.

Looking at her bewildered eyes, Julian patiently repeated his demand.

"Why? Janie is just an innocent assistant. She already paid a horrific price; her face is still swollen!"

Her voice involuntarily rose, her chest heaving with anger and disbelief. "Why would you demand something like this? She never crossed you, and she has nothing to do with your corporate interests. Why do you want to destroy her?"

"Nora, don't misunderstand."

Julian spoke calmly, raising a hand in a pacifying gesture. "I am simply looking at this from a liability standpoint. The direct catalyst for Gideon blacklisting Lawrence Atelier is the fact that your assistant assaulted someone."

"You know Gideon's temperament better than I do. As long as that assistant remains in your studio, his fury will never subside, and his suppression of Lawrence Atelier will never end."

Julian picked up the teapot and refilled Nora's empty cup.

"If I am injecting capital, I need to ensure there are no uncontrollable risk factors within the studio."

"An emotionally volatile assistant who dares to physically assault clients in a professional setting is a ticking time bomb. Today she threw a punch for her mentor; tomorrow she might sabotage an entire project over something else."