Too Late to Hold Me Back novel Chapter 149

"No. The Mercers don't operate like that. This was Mr. Porter's doing."

Mira informed him.

"Shane?"

Mira nodded.

"Why?"

"He's trying to save Mara. He can't bear to lose the pawn he spent so much time grooming."

"So Mara's got a heavy hitter backing her? I was wondering how she managed to tear the Mercer family apart so effortlessly and push you out of the picture."

Mira shot Owen a sharp glare. "Are you enjoying the show? You spend all day with Ellis, and you didn't even know this?"

Their mentor had the best intelligence network in the city.

"I don't run the intel division. I only ask about things I'm actually interested in. Besides, the old man gets annoyed if I pester him too much."

"He's barely in his forties. Why are you calling him an 'old man'?"

"Once you hit forty, you're officially over the hill."

Mira rolled her eyes and ignored him.

When they arrived at the building, Mira headed over to handle a few things on the entertainment side, while Owen went straight to the new company's office.

Both companies were located in the same high-rise, which made managing them incredibly convenient.

It wasn't until three in the afternoon that Mira finally made her way over to the new firm.

With the prestige of Solflare Entertainment backing them, coupled with aggressive compensation packages and Owen's sharp eye for talent, their recruitment drive was going flawlessly.

The executive hires, in particular, were exceptional in both skill and character. A few of them were even power players Mira remembered making huge names for themselves in her past life.

Mira reviewed everything briefly and, seeing no issues, left it in their capable hands.

The next phase was staff onboarding.

That part was easy. Since they had recruited seasoned professionals, a quick rundown of the corporate protocols was all they needed to hit the ground running.

But before that, Mira needed to lay out the full scope of their upcoming project with Owen and the executive team.

She walked them through the design of their bike-sharing concept, detailing the integration of the GPS, Bluetooth, and sensory tracking modules.

She broke down the R&D for the smart locks, the user app interface, the platform infrastructure, and the backend maintenance.

"How much equity are you willing to part with?"

"I retain a 60 percent controlling stake. You two can figure out how to split the rest."

Mira needed to guarantee absolute control over the board.

It was always better to lay down hard boundaries upfront to avoid messy disputes later.

"Deal. I'll front fifteen million dollars for a 20 percent stake. I'll talk to Ellis later—if he's not interested, I'll drop another fifteen million and buy out the remaining 20 percent."

Owen was naturally ambitious, and looking at Mira's flawless projections, he was completely sold on the venture.

It worked out perfectly. For the bike-sharing monopoly to work, Mira had to launch aggressively in Melvion City and rapidly expand outward into neighboring metropolitan hubs.

Dominating Melvion City alone wouldn't require a fortune, but scaling nationwide was going to demand a massive cash influx.

If they hesitated for even a second, major venture capitalists would swoop in, copy the model, and steal their market share.

"Owen, what exactly did you do before all this?" Where did he casually get thirty million dollars from?

"You're seventeen and made tens of millions in a matter of months. Is it really that shocking that I have money too? As for the details, it's better if you don't know. Ignorance is bliss."