She paused, reaching for a file and placing it in front of Aaron. "I’ve already sent the details to Katrina. Now, the mother, daughter, and father—all of them—are on the hook."
Es opened her drawer with a smooth motion and placed a file in front of Aaron. "Sign it," she said, her voice firm and commanding.
Aaron, on reflex, reached for the pen. There were tis when Es spoke like that—so assured, so in control—that he and Helga would simply follow her lead without a second thought. But as his fingers gripped the pen, sothing made him pause.
Wait a minute, what is this?
. The mont his eyes scanned the papers, his entire deanor shifted. His brow furrowed, and he looked up at Es, confusion and disbelief written all over his face.
"You... are you crazy?" Aaron exclaid, his voice incredulous. His eyes flicked between the papers and her face, unable to reconcile what he was seeing.
Es smiled and stretched her arms, her expression cool and composed as always. "What happened?" she asked, her voice tinged with curiosity. "Why the shocked face?"
Aaron couldn’t believe it. He stared at the papers in front of him again, his mind racing. "You’re giving everything? All these properties? You want to sign for them?" His voice rose, a mix of disbelief and frustration. "Are you out of your mind? This is 80 million worth of assets! You can’t just give all of that to !"
Es smiled softly, as if Aaron’s shock was nothing new to her. "Well," she said, her tone casual, "I’m your boss, and you’re my assistant, so I think it’s only fair I give them to you."
Aaron’s jaw tightened, his hand shaking as it hovered over the papers. "You can’t be serious," he muttered. "If we sell all these properties, we’re not just looking at 80 million. With so effort, we could sell them for even more. This isn’t just one mansion—there are five, maybe six! These are beautiful properties, Es. Don’t you get it? If we sell them properly, they could go for much more than 80 million. You can’t just give them away like this."
Es’s smile didn’t fade. She looked at him with quiet confidence, as if she knew exactly what she was doing. "These properties are yours now, Aaron. I’m giving them to you, and I trust you’ll make the right choice with them."
Aaron’s hands trembled as he looked at the papers in front of him—his father’s properties, properties that he had just brought back, now being transferred to his na. He knew they weren’t worth more than 60 million in their current state, but he also knew that Es was undervaluing them. If only she would allow them to be sold for what they were truly worth, they could easily reach 80 million—and that was just the start.
Suddenly, Es stood up, her chair scraping against the floor with a sharp sound that echoed through the room. She turned to face Aaron, her expression serious, the lightness gone from her voice. "I’m not giving this property to you as a charity," she said, her tone steady, almost stern. "This is your right. It’s your inheritance. You are the child of that family. They owe you for it."
Aaron stared at her, his chest tightening, and for a mont, his breath seed to catch in his throat. His eyes stung, a bitter mixture of emotions swirling inside him. He lowered his head, his voice trembling as he whispered, "Are you crazy? Why would I need their dirty money? I have enough."
Es’s gaze softened for a mont before it hardened again, and Ashmit, who had been silent until now, spoke up. "Okay, you have enough. But what happens when we’re gone? Do you really think you’ll always have enough?" Her voice was laced with a bitter wisdom, the unspoken truth of their precarious situation hanging in the air.
Aaron shot a harsh glance at her, his voice sharp and tinged with frustration. "Why the hell do you always talk about death? We’re not dying anyti soon!"
Es paused, her back to him now as she walked toward the large glass window that looked out over the city. She stood there for a mont, her hands resting on the edge of the windowsill, her gaze distant as if lost in thought. Then, she spoke again, her voice quieter, yet filled with a weight that Aaron couldn’t ignore.
"Aaron, my parents were still so young when they suddenly disappeared. The sa goes for my husbands. We can’t ever be sure that we’ll always have tomorrow. We can’t control the future. So, why not cherish what we have now? Why not secure so money for the future?"
She turned slowly, her eyes locking with his. Her gaze was intense, her words piercing. "Because in this world, what’s most important is money. And you know that. You’ve seen how people can treat you when you don’t have it."
Aaron opened his mouth to respond, but she cut him off with a small sigh. Taking a deep breath, she continued, her expression now mixed with amusent. "And besides, don’t you want to make them pay for what they did? Don’t you want them to beg for it? Rember how they locked you in that storeroom, like you were worthless, all because they didn’t want to waste a single penny?"
Aaron’s eyes narrowed, his mind racing back to those dark days, and a flicker of sothing twisted in his chest.
The years of suffering, the sha, the anger—it all ca rushing back. His lips twitched into a smile, one that didn’t reach his eyes but spoke volus.
And then, as if sothing broke inside him, he let out a deep, throaty laugh, the sound sharp and almost manic.
Aaron’s gaze hardened, and his fingers clenched around the pen, the cool tal cold against his skin.
He could feel the weight of Es’s words settle in his chest, and the smile that crept across his face wasn’t one of amusent but of dark satisfaction.
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