The poor Billionaire novel (Ethan) novel Chapter 59
Horace's words touched Laila's heart. She was so happy that he held her dear to his heart. She didn't know who Uncle Raul was, but she still tingled with excitement.
Laila was naturally a reasonable young woman. Despite her excitement, she didn't let his words cloud her sense of reasoning. With a smile, she said, "Horace, I appreciate your kindness. I'm so happy that you made great efforts just to make my birthday memorable. However, this necklace is too expensive. Please return it. You still need a lot of money for other pressing issues."
"He should return it?" Lucinda chuckled with mockery written on her face. She then uttered disdainfully, "Just so you know, you can't return any piece of jewelry from a luxury brand like Cartier. The only exception is if there's a quality problem. From the look of things, there's no problem with the necklace, so you are stuck with it!"
Della looked at Horace and shook her head.
"This necklace doesn't even cost a quarter of the price for lunch. It's the least of our worries now. Laila, you'd better think of what you would do for Horace today. Don't just sit there as he makes bad decisions. If he can't foot the bill later, everyone at this table would be held responsible. He's the one that gave the other customers an open check. Even if we try to explain it to the police, they wouldn't have any of it. We will be doomed!"
The only reason why Della had accepted Laila's invitation and brought her boyfriend along was that she wanted to see how Horace would be humiliated by her boyfriend. 'I didn't expect that Horace would be so brazen. It turned out that he prefers to shoot himself in the foot than to admit defeat. What a crazy man!' she thought.
"Humph! It's a bet between your boyfriend and Horace. No one should involve me in something I have no hand in. Please!" Macie washed her hands off the situation.
"How can you speak like a child that was born yesterday, Macie? Do you have any recording of when they were making the bet? No, right? That means we have no proof to show the police when they get here. Do you think Horace would turn himself in and clear our names? Yeah, I thought so too!"
Horace did a facepalm and chuckled. "Don't frame me, Della. Why are you anticipating that the police would get involved? You need to chill out. Just to put your mind at rest. I promise to own up no matter what happens. However, I can't say the same for your boyfriend. Something tells me that he would chicken out!"
"You brat! Stop making silly assumptions when you know nothing about me. Anyway, I hope you would still be so confident when it's time to pay the bill!" Cayson glared at Horace as he spoke angrily.
He wasn't worried about the bill at all. He was sure that if things went out of hand, he could still afford his bill and Della's.
"Don't worry. I'm always optimistic and confident. I don't cower in the face of adversity. Despite your defiance, I still can't take your word for it. How about we both sign an agreement? Who knows? You might disappear into thin air if something unplanned happens later!" Horace stared at Cayson doubtfully.
"What? How dare you question my character? Who the hell are you? You brat, I don't trust you, either. Come on. Get me a piece of paper and a pen!" Cayson ordered the waitress after sneering at Horace.
Just when the two competitors were about to sign their names, Cayson said, "Horace, you are the one that was supposed to pay for this meal. You said it was your treat. If this competition ends in a tie and the bill is unaffordable, you still have to sort it out. You need to add this clause to the agreement if you want me to sign it!"
Cayson stared at his opponent with an intimidating expression. He wanted to see how Horace would back out in the face of difficulty. To his dismay, he nodded and assented. "Okay, no problem!"
Horace added the clause to the agreement and appended his signature without hesitation. He then pushed the note to Cayson and said, "Come on, it's time to show how courageous you are!"
Cayson read through all that was written on the paper patiently. When he confirmed that the clauses were beneficial to him, he signed it.
After they both put their signatures to the agreement, Macie looked at Horace in surprise and commented, "Wow! You keep surprising me today. I didn't know that you could be so brave!"
She then turned to look at Della and asked, "Since they have both signed the agreement, everything is okay now, isn't it?"
"Yeah!" Della could only sigh helplessly. For some weird reason, she became very worried about her boyfriend after she saw the confident look on Horace's face. She wanted to dissuade Cayson from appending his signature.
Cayson called the waitress and ordered, "Miss, please serve everyone present a plate of the Kobe steak. It should be added to our bill!"
Although Horace had offered to pay for everyone who was having lunch here, Cayson knew that some of the customers would be reasonable enough not to order the most expensive dish. They wouldn't want to take his kindness for granted. However, Cayson wanted it the other way round. He wanted the bill to be weighty. Playing tricks on Horace was the only way he could vent his anger.
The waitress's mouth was slightly agape when she heard his command. She had watched the gambling between the two competitors.
She pursed her lips and thought, 'This man is not smart at all. I can't believe that you are a vice-president. Why can't you put on your thinking cap? It might interest you to know that when we were about to book the entire restaurant for Mr. Warren, we didn't check his assets. Normally, we do this for other customers. There's only an exception for the top wealthiest people in Rinas. You have no idea how rich Mr. Warren is. Now you said we should serve each of the customers a plate of the Kobe steak. Even if all the seats in this restaurant were occupied, the bill would only be a drop in the ocean for our boss, let alone our boss's superior. You have already lost even before the end of the competition. You're so stupid!'
Just as the waitress was criticizing Cayson inwardly, Horace snapped his fingers to call her attention. He then said, "Miss, the customers here are very few. I don't know if there are still enough steaks left in the restaurant. If there's enough, please serve them to the customers irrespective of the time they arrive this noon. Do you understand?"
"Yes, sir. Each customer will get one serving of the Kobe steak even if they don't order it. On behalf of our customers, I want to thank you for your kindness. You indeed made their day!"
The waitress smiled at Horace and curtsied respectfully.
Her behavior angered Cayson. He was furious that she gave Horace a beautiful smile and even thanked him. 'This is ridiculous! I was the one that suggested that each customer got a serving of steak. Why is she smiling at Horace instead of me?'
No one could answer his question since he only asked it inwardly.
As time went by, more customers trooped into the restaurant in their numbers. The previously empty seats became occupied.
These new customers had found out about what was happening in the Country Music Restaurant through their relatives and friends that called them. It was already past lunchtime for most offices. But some of the customers asked for leave for the rest of the day just so they could enjoy a free meal here.
The average cost of a meal in this restaurant was much more than the daily wages of some of the customers present. Most of them had never eaten such luxurious meals before.
Cayson couldn't help laughing as more people trooped into the restaurant. He was sure that he would win today because Horace would plunge into debts.
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