Too Late to Hold Me Back novel Chapter 225

"Can you not roast me, Master? Let me keep a shred of dignity as the senior disciple."

His market analysis was objectively inferior to hers.

Mira stayed silent. She possessed the ultimate cheat code—memories of her past life; no one could realistically compete with that.

"Don't downplay his skills, Master. He's the real deal. My success was pure luck."

"She's worth studying," Master Ellis insisted. "Wealth and prestige are great until they become shackles. Look at her. Walked away from the Mercer fortune without a second thought. A high schooler who couldn't even afford her gym dues a few months ago, now worth hundreds of millions."

He shot Mira a knowing look. "You've crossed the billionaire threshold in our currency by now, haven't you?"

"I haven't done the exact math. Probably not quite."

"You definitely have. And you?" he pointed at Owen. "A grown man, why can't you carve out your own empire again?"

"What did you do before this?"

Mira asked, sensing the heavy, unspoken history.

"Doesn't matter what I was. I'm nothing now."

Since he was aggressively dodging the topic, Mira let it drop.

Master Ellis leaned in, his tone shifting. "Ethan Mercer figured out that Mr. Porter sabotaged Mercer Jewels. Heavy retaliation is imminent. Also, Ethan seems to be executing a hostile takeover of the Mercer Group, boxing out Mr. Mercer."

A hostile takeover of his own father? That had never happened in her past life.

With the timeline fracturing, would Shane Porter still be able to tear the Mercer family apart?

...

Across town, a young couple was celebrating wildly.

The man burst through the door, his face glowing. "We have the down payment!"

"What? We have it! But you said we needed two more years!"

"I hit the jackpot, believe it or not."

Marcus understood their perspective—no parent wanted their daughter to struggle.

He had agreed without hesitation.

But as a low-level clerk making a few thousand a month, a down payment felt like an impossible, decade-long grind.

His rural family couldn't offer a dime of support.

When he heard Solflare Entertainment was aggressively recruiting, he took a shot.

Chloe had been terrified of him risking his stable, low-paying job. "If you quit and fail, you'll have nothing. Solflare is elite; your resume won't even get you in the door. If your current boss finds out you're interviewing, you'll be fired on the spot."

Corporate loyalty was brutally enforced.

But Marcus was desperate enough to risk the interview anyway.

Predictably, lacking both the pedigree and industry experience, he had been instantly rejected by HR.