The poor Billionaire novel (Ethan) novel Chapter 58
"Horace, shut up! If you want to trick my boyfriend into spending more money, just say it. Stop beating around the bush!" Della fired back at him before Cayson could even respond.
It seemed like she made it her point of duty to defend Cayson against Horace. Her boyfriend was rich and she liked to spend his money, but it didn't mean she would allow others to do the same, let alone take advantage of him.
Like a female knight in shiny armor, she continued, "Horace, you think you are tricking my boyfriend into paying half of the bill. But you are actually setting yourself up. I'm dead sure you don't even have up to thirty thousand dollars in your pocket now. How dare you order six servings of Kobe steaks? You fucking bastard! You wanted my boyfriend to pay the bill from the very beginning, didn't you? Everything is clear to me now. Since you even set a punishment for the loser, it seems you would love to serve us like a dog!"
None of the invitees believed that the three cakes on the table were a gift. Horace and Laila didn't bother to convince them anymore.
The total money donated at the fundraiser was sixty-two thousand dollars. Horace had spent nearly ten thousand dollars for dinner last night. After the doubting Thomases deducted the money for the expensive cakes and the rental car today, they estimated that Horace had only thirty thousand dollars on him. This was the highest estimate they could make.
"Ha-ha! Really?" Horace sneered with anger. Suggesting the competition wasn't to trick Cayson into paying half of the bill. He had just wanted to teach him a good lesson. Della's accusation made his blood boil. He turned to the waitress and ordered, "Please tell all the customers present that every meal ordered this noon would be placed on my tab. They don't have to pay a dime. This also covers for the customers that would come after the announcement is made."
"Okay, sir. I'll inform them right away!" The waitress didn't hesitate for a second. She remembered the stern warning her boss had given all the employees before now.
She quickly walked to the music bar in the restaurant. Afterward, she picked up the microphone and announced articulately, "Dear esteemed customers, please can I have your attention? Mr. Horace Warren has offered to pay the bill for everyone here this noon!" She pointed at Horace as she spoke.
Although Edna hadn't told the employees Horace's full mane, they had overheard the conversation of his former classmates at their table. Now they knew his full name was Horace Warren.
"Great! This is our lucky day!" The customers were few, but they all screamed in surprise and appreciation. Many of them even picked up their cell phones and started making calls.
They wanted to inform their close family and friends to come and have free lunch at the Country Music Restaurant. Such a good thing happened only once in a blue moon. They couldn't just keep it to themselves.
Edna was sitting at a corner of the restaurant when she heard the waitress's announcement. With a chuckle, she looked at Horace murmured to herself, "Now he's behaving like the son of the Warren family's head. It's a good thing that he's proving to those arrogant fellows that he is not a man to be trifled with!"
She had been listening to their conversation all along.
Everyone at Horace's table was stunned to hear the announcement. Della sneered and remarked, "Horace, you can achieve a tie with Cayson by doing this, but do you have any idea how much you will owe in the end? You organized this party and Laila invited us. We have no hand in whatever game you are playing. We didn't sign up to pay for other people's meals. You have to take full responsibility when it's time! Listen to me carefully. It's not too late to go back on your words before people begin to troop in here."
Della was getting very anxious. She didn't want her boyfriend to go bankrupt because of Horace's games.
The meals in this restaurant were already expensive. The customers here would eat to their fill because Horace had just given them an open check. By the time they were done, he would have to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars. If he couldn't, the management may call the police on everyone seated at this table.
"Horace!" Laila suddenly held his hand and looked at him worriedly.
She had looked forward to this party with great expectation, but this wasn't how she had imagined it to be. She felt that Horace was behaving rather weird today. However, she still felt sorry for him because he wouldn't have made a bet with Cayson if he wasn't trying to please her.
When Horace sensed her perplexity, he gave her a reassuring smile. He then looked at Della and said disdainfully, "Della, you are stressing yourself over nothing. There will be no tie today. I will come out as the winner. Just watch and see!"
After he finished speaking, he took out the boxed Jusete un Clou necklace he had bought from the Cartier shop and handed it to Laila. "Before our food comes, let me give you a gift. Happy birthday, Laila," he said with a smile.
Laila thought Horace had just gotten her a normal birthday gift. She had no idea what was inside the gift box. When she took the box and opened it, she was greeted with the shiny brilliance of a beautiful necklace. She exclaimed, "This gift is so beautiful! Horace, thank you very much!"
The others stretched their necks to see what was in the gift box. They were attracted by the radiating brilliance of the necklace. When Macie set eyes on it, she exclaimed, "My goodness! This is one of the Jusete un Clou necklace series by Cartier. It's so beautiful!"
"Are my eyes deceiving me? No, it's indeed the expensive nail necklace by Cartier. Even if it was sold at a discount, it wouldn't be worth less than thirty thousand dollars. How did you get it?" Della was lost in thought for a while as she stared at the necklace. The next second, she chuckled. "Horace, you are a crook! You don't have much money since you have bought the cakes and the necklace, do you? You cunning bastard! From the very beginning, you knew you couldn't afford to pay for lunch. Since I brought my rich boyfriend here, you devised a plan so you can indirectly rope him into paying the bills. Horace, you're really something! No wonder you have been behaving so arrogantly and trying to provoke my boyfriend since we got here. It turns out you premeditated everything. This competition was a trap!"
Della felt like Sherlock Holmes as she made a series of deductions through observation and logical reasoning. When she was done, she nodded her head with assurance.
"Horace, there's something I would like you to make clear. I don't understand why you pretended to be rich when you are actually penniless. Did you do that just to save face? How dumb can you be? If you had come out clean about your penniless state, I would have asked Cayson to foot the bill. You wouldn't have had to face any humiliation. But now you have landed us into trouble!"
"Ha-ha!" Horace burst out laughing. He then clapped his hands thrice and said, "Wonderful! Your speech is wonderful, Della. You would make a good detective in the future! Who knows? Your name might go down in history as the female Sherlock Holmes! Honestly, I don't just like your boyfriend. This has gotten nothing to do with you. Don't stick your oar into my business or try to pity me. Even if I accrue a debt worth hundreds of millions of dollars in the end, it's none of your business. Anyway, I won't lose today!"
Meanwhile, Laila had heard everything Della said. The happy expression on her face was instantly replaced with sheer worry. She closed the gift box and pushed it back to Horace. "I can't accept such an expensive gift, Horace!" she uttered, shaking her head.
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