Eldora had shifted the montum, imdiately pushing the bid up to one million dollars.
The mont he did, the crowd collectively shook their heads in disappointnt.
No one believed Caleb stood a chance in a bidding war against Eldora.
Not in this life, and certainly not in the next.
But Caleb held on to hope.
’Eldora’s a businessman. No matter how rich he is, he’s been leveraging his influence to get what he wants without spending more than necessary. Every item so far—he’s gotten without a real fight. That way, he saves money and still wins. If that’s the case... then maybe—just maybe—I can force his hand.’
Beads of sweat ford on Caleb’s forehead.
If Eldora truly operated with a businessman’s mindset, then profits would always co before pride.
Caleb was betting everything on that.
He wanted to exploit that logic—use it as leverage to win this bid.
"One million, fifty thousand dollars!" Caleb shouted from his box.
Gasps swept through the hall. Once again, the crowd shook their heads.
At this point, no one knew whether Caleb was brave or just stupid.
What had initially seed like boldness now looked more like reckless desperation—sothing only a foolish child would attempt.
Eldora, however, was genuinely surprised when he heard Caleb’s bid.
This boy... hmm, he’s smart. I guess he didn’t fall for my trick, Eldora thought, his impression of Caleb shifting from irritation to respect.
His initial frustration—that soone dared challenge him for an item—was now replaced by a growing curiosity. He found himself more interested in Caleb’s identity than the item on stage.
Typically, whenever he spiked the price like that, one of two things would happen:
Either the challenger would back out, intimidated by the sudden jump in price,
Or they would panic and respond by dramatically increasing their own bid—desperately hoping to scare him off.
When that happened, Eldora would simply keep raising the price increntally, driving them into a spiral of financial overcommitnt.
The outco? Either he’d secure the item himself, or he’d let them win—but at a crushing cost to their net worth. Recovering from such a loss? Near impossible.
That was why he had laughed during the bidding war with the Monrrows.
Nate had fallen right into that trap.
Instead of giving the impression of wealth and power, Nate had walked away looking like a fool—soone who didn’t understand the ga.
But Caleb?
Caleb didn’t panic.
He didn’t back down after the million-dollar spike, and he didn’t recklessly throw out a much higher number in response.
Instead, he raised the bid by just fifty thousand.
A subtle move. A calculated one.
Eldora could tell—his opponent this ti wasn’t just wealthy. He was a strategist.
"A million one hundred thousand dollars," Eldora said coolly.
The crowd braced themselves, expecting him to raise the stakes by another million.
But to their utter shock, Eldora had only increased it by fifty thousand.
A man in the audience let out a loud, mocking laugh after hearing Eldora’s latest bid.
"Haha! Eldora’s just toying with that kid. Slowly tearing him apart," he said with smug confidence.
Seated a few rows behind him, Katherine sighed, clearly exasperated.
She didn’t bother replying. Her expression said enough—it was the kind of look one gave a particularly contagious form of stupidity.
Like sitting near him might infect her IQ.
"It takes a real entrepreneur to see this isn’t just a bidding war," she muttered, just loud enough to be heard, "It’s a battle of intellects."
Those who understood her aning chuckled quietly, shifting their attention away from the loud man and toward the real contest unfolding.
Even Jin, from his private booth, broke into an uncharacteristic fit of laughter—drawing surprised looks from the elite seated nearby.
"If only I knew my stubborn son would turn out to be this sharp," he said with a smile, his eyes glued to Caleb’s box with a glimr of shock and growing admiration.
But not everyone was pleased.
Nate sat nearby, his face growing darker by the second. His father’s words hit like a slap.
’What the hell is going on? Why is Dad so impressed with that useless bastard?’
He turned his burning gaze toward Caleb’s box.
’What’s so great about him? Haven’t I proven my wealth and influence a hundred tis over? And yet, not once have you looked at like that...’
’But now, because that idiot dared to go against soone on your level, suddenly he’s worthy of your attention? What kind of twisted logic is that?!’
Fury tightened Nate’s jaw as he abruptly stood, frustration radiating from his every step.
If looks could kill, Jin would have been gunned down ten tis over by the glare Nate shot his back.
Without a word, Nate stord out of the room.
Jin turned slightly, watching the door swing shut behind his departing son.
With a simple flick of his hand, he gestured to his secretary, who was standing quietly at the side.
"Yes, sir?" the secretary asked, stepping forward with a calm and composed stride. The stage lights reflected off his silver-frad lenses, and his tailored black suit clung perfectly to his lean fra.
"We have shares in my son’s company—Nate, I an?" Jin asked casually.
"Yes, sir. We currently hold ten percent of their shares," the secretary confird.
"Sell all of them," Jin said flatly. "Any price. I don’t care. I can’t afford to associate with idiots. It’s contagious."
There wasn’t a flicker of hesitation in his voice—just cold dismissal.
For a mont, it would’ve been easy to believe Nate wasn’t his son at all.
But the secretary was long used to Jin’s nature.
While Jin handled business partners with precision and professionalism, his dealings with his children were sothing else entirely—unforgiving, at tis even cruel. So much so that one might mistake them for orphans.
And the secretary knew better than to argue.
To him, this wasn’t business. It was blood—and in Jin’s world, blood didn’t guarantee rcy.
’Family matters. I have no say in it.’ That was the line he repeated to himself like a mantra.
"Understood, sir. I’ll have the marketing team cut off our supplies to his company and sell every share, regardless of the price."
"Good. Do it right away," Jin said, his eyes returning to the stage. "While I enjoy the show from my real son."
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