The Man Who Waited vs. The Man Who Wasted novel Chapter 127

Julian looked up at her, a warm, comforting smile spreading across his face.

"Why would you think there's no benefit to me?"

His eyes were clear and sincere, devoid of any hidden agendas or complex motives.

"You can think of it as me being selfish. I need you as my partner. I need you to resolve your personal issues as quickly as possible so you can stand by my side and fight openly for Momentum AI."

Jocelyn frowned slightly. "Even so, I feel like I owe you far too much."

"You need to realize that the moment you join my company, the returns I'll get will far outweigh what I've given you today."

"That may be true, but..."

"Actually, we could spend our time on a much more productive conversation," Julian interjected smoothly.

Jocelyn pressed her lips together.

She had been about to say she wanted to return the necklace to him.

It seemed she was just going to have to keep owing him for now.

Fine.

She'd pay him back eventually.

Suddenly, Jocelyn thought of something else.

Even though she knew Julian could handle it, she couldn't resist teasing him.

"Aren't you worried the owner of Aurelia will investigate the incident, find out you hacked their network to wipe the footage, and completely ruin your flawless reputation, Mr. Vance?"

Julian flashed a deeply meaningful smile.

"Why would I investigate myself?"

It took a second, but Jocelyn caught on, laughing in disbelief.

"After all this time, you're the owner of Aurelia."

"Liam and I own it together," Julian corrected. "The previous owner was a friend of ours who was moving abroad. He basically forced us to buy the hotel."

"I originally didn't want to take it since hospitality isn't my field, but he was terrified his hard work would go down the drain in someone else's hands and practically begged us."

"So I told Liam we'd buy it just to play around with it, and he agreed."

It sounded flawless. Completely convincing.

Jocelyn hadn't expected Julian to work so fast.

A local thug, paid off to take the fall.

To a guy like that, sitting in a cell for a few days in exchange for a massive payout was a great deal.

Adrian was actually suspicious.

But he didn't want to blow the situation out of proportion.

A massive scandal would inevitably damage his own reputation.

Plus, Aurelia's management had already formally apologized in person and offered substantial compensation.

Because of all that, Adrian wanted the matter closed.

"Jo..." Adrian's tone was completely different from his explosive rage the night before. He sounded significantly softer.

"We got you all wrong."