10x Cashback: Your Wealth Is Mine

58  And The World Crumbled Around Him

The world spun, my head pounded and my hands trembled.

My eyes started to the part of the screen responsible for my panic.

[Reward: minus 1.5 billion dollars.]

The words sat innocently on the screen, as if taunting me. I stared at it, as if glaring at it hard enough would make the number disappear. My heart kept beating a crazy rhythm in my chest as if there was a rave going on in there. Sweat gathered in my palm and I cleaned it on my shirt.

"How... how the hell is this a reward?" I muttered. What is going to happen now?

I began pacing back and forth in my living room, my mind running. How was Quinn a hundred and fifty million dollars in debt? She only had to pay a hundred and twenty. At most, she should've been seventy million.

And why would she take out a loan for the money? Didn't she have rich parents or something?

Honestly, I was the one at fault here. I should've known the money won't just come out of thin air. And I should've waited till we signed the agreement before collecting my reward. It was only when I collected the reward that it was calculated, which meant that with Quinn's current net worth, she must have borrowed two hundred million dollars.

If I had waited, she would have added Sunset Inn shares to her net worth, bringing it up to one hundred and seventy million dollars. Then, she would be left with a net worth of minus thirty million and I would've only gotten three hundred million in debt.

How was I going to come back from this?

[Status Screen] Nôv(el)B\\jnn

[Name: Nicholas Voss]

[Cashback Rate: 10x (Base Rate)]

[Stamps Collected: 2/99]

[Assets: $580 million]

[Liquidity: $1.5 million]

[Liabilities: $1.570 million]

[Net worth: minus $989 million]

[Total Cashback earned: minus $1.430 billion]

[Pending Cashback: N/A]

I stared, not knowing what to do or say. This all felt like a cruel joke.

According to the system, I was now in debt of over one billion dollars. With Sunset Inn and Cooper Real Estate, I'll only be able to pay off five hundred and eighty billion of the debt.

I paced, wondering what form the reward will come. Would creditors start showing up at my door? Was I about to get a phone call from Lincoln telling me that my assets were seized?

I grabbed my phone and checked it obsessively, waiting for something, anything, to happen. Ten minutes passed. Nothing. No calls. No emails. No mysterious men in suits showing up at my doorstep.

"Maybe... maybe the system doesn't work like that." I whispered, trying to convince myself.

If this was truly a reward, it wouldn't bury me outright. Right? Maybe it meant I'd be rewarded up to that amount over time. A trickle instead of a flood.

I leaned against the kitchen counter, rubbing my temples. "Get a grip, Nico. You've been through this before."

Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to focus. Today was important. I buried myself in my work, using it to keep my mind off things. Time passed and I was brought back out of the zone of fallen into as the door to my office opened.

"Mr. Voss." Michael Lincoln walked in, briefcase in hand. He stepped forward to shake my hand.

"Michael." I greeted him with a grin. "How are you?"

At this point, I was treating him like the system's mouthpiece. What would he say about sudden debt?

"Busy, as always." He replied with a smile of his own. "But excited to see this project moving forward. Shall we?"

"Of course."

I led him into the conference room, where he presented me with the documents.

I went through it to see that everything was in order. All we needed now was Quinn's signature and Sunset Inn would be officially on its way to greatness.

I sat down, exchanging small talk with Lincoln, expecting him to bring up the matter of my debt but he didn't. Just when I was settling into a sense of security about the debt, the door opened.

Quinn walked in and immediately, I knew something was wrong. She strode to me, her jaw set. Instead of a smile, on her face was anger.

"Quinn," I began, standing to greet her, "I'm glad you're here-"

"Cut the crap, Nico." She snapped, her voice low and furious.

I froze, my hand half-extended. "What?"

She tossed her bag onto the table, glaring at me like I'd personally betrayed her. "You know exactly what's going on!"

I blinked. "I... I really don't."

"Don't play dumb." She hissed. "Was this your plan all along? To tear my family apart? To cause chaos just so you could swoop in and benefit?"

"What?" I shook my head, utterly confused. "Quinn, I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You're a liar!" She spat, her voice shaking. "This whole thing, it was never about the business, was it? You just wanted to use me. To use my family!"

"Wait a minute." I said, holding up my hands. "You're going to have to explain because none of this is making any sense."

What the heck was going on?

Instead of explaining, Quinn laughed bitterly, almost hysterical. "Jenny was right! Maybe I should've listened to her when she told me what a snake you are." She spat.

She grabbed her bag off the table. "I'm pulling out, Nico. I'm not investing in Sunset Inn and I'm done with whatever this... thing between us was."

"Quinn, wait-"

But she was already at the door.

"Goodbye, Nico." She said coldly.

And just like that, she was gone.

I sat down, stunned and trying to process what had just happened.

"That... went well." Lincoln said dryly, breaking the tension.

I shot him a look. "What the hell just happened?"

He pulled out his tablet and slid it across the table. "Maybe this has something to do with it."

I stared at the screen.

BREAKING NEWS: Scandal rocks the Adams Family! Oliver Adams' Affair with Sister-in-Law Exposed!

My heart sank. The headline felt like a physical blow.

"How...?" I muttered.

"I don't know." Lincoln said. "But it seems like the timing couldn't have been worse for you."

I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth. This wasn't my doing. I hadn't leaked anything about Oliver and Margot. But now, I was caught in the crossfire.

Quinn was gone. The investment was gone. And Sunset Inn was hanging by a thread.

I leaned back in my chair, exhaling sharply.

"Every setback," I muttered under my breath, "is a step forward."

But for the first time in a long while, I wasn't sure if I believed it.