How Much? (1)

Kaiser thought that Luca would be back to normal the following day, but Leo Howard's words seemed to be coming true. Since Luca continued sleeping well past noon, he decided to go to the company to deal with work. Before he had been there for more than 2 hours he received a call that his son was throwing a tantrum.

Hearing the ruckus being caused by Luca in the background, he coldly ordered, "Let him tire himself out and fall asleep. When he wakes up have him eat something. Make sure he doesn't hurt himself."

Cutting the call, he tried focusing on his work but the image of Luca crying in his sleep kept circling his mind. Recalling the psychiatrist's words, he messaged Roman.

- Send me Valentina's contact information ASAP.

His phone immediately started ringing.

"Brother, what's going on? Why do you need Valentina's information? Did you fall in love with her?"

Hearing the nonsense coming out of Roman's mouth, Kaiser immediately retorted, "It seems you don't want any vacation time for the next 6 years right?"

"I'm sorry brother, I must have slept on the wrong side of the bed since I spouted nonsense. I will immediately send it over but why do you need it?" Roman asked contritely.

"Your nephew has been crying and asking for her, so I have no choice concede."

"Ahhh I assume he went on a hunger strike?" Roman asked knowingly.

"Hmmm."

"Poor Luca. Alright bro I'll send it over right away. I'll stop by this evening as well to check up on him."

Roman quickly sent Valentina's information over.

Kaiser examined the phone number before calling it.

"Hello?" a familiar sweet voice answered.

"Is this Miss Valentina Salazar?" Kaiser responded.

"This is she. Who's speaking?" Valentina asked.

"This is Kaiser Grayson. I'm sorry to contact you out of the blue. I have a favor to ask."

For some reason Valentina found herself cleaning her house for Kaiser Grayson and Luca to come over for dinner. She had ended up sleeping all through the night since her body had been under a lot of stress while filming. When she woke up the next morning, the first half of her payment had landed in her account, and excited at the first bit of money that was officially 'hers', Valentina decided to shop until she dropped. After eating a light breakfast, she got dressed in a casual dress, wore her face mask and sunglasses, and called a taxi.

Valentina planned on going to Imperial City Galleria which was the biggest mall in the city. It had a great mix of both luxury brands and up-and-coming boutiques. The original Valentina mainly wore extravagant name-brand stamped clothes in order to fit in with others in the industry and although it looked good because of her beauty, it didn't really represent the current 'her' style.

She preferred more subtle designs in her clothes, and she had really struggled to find things to wear in Valentina's closet. Since she now had spending money, planned on going to a boutique to find some core staple pieces that she could build her ideal wardrobe.

Before she could even get into the groove of shopping, she had received a call and ended up accepting the fact that Kaiser would be bringing Luca over along with some dinner. Which led her to hurriedly clean her house.

Valentina gazed around her small living space. It was previously furnished with just a small loveseat and television, but she had hurriedly bought a small folding table with three chairs. She had also put away anything that could be possibly incriminating and just nervously sat down while waiting.

Soon enough her doorbell rang. When she opened it was Kaiser Grayson in his usual black outfit. His toned muscular body was fully highlighted in a fitted suit and his handsome face gazed at her. He carried Luca in his arm who was similarly dressed in all black and carried a food box in another hand.

"Welcome to my humble abode. Please come in." Valentina welcomed the father and son pair. Before she even finished, Luca held his hands out to her, and she carried him while letting Kaiser in.

"Thank you, Miss Valentina. I brought dinner." Kaiser respectfully greeted before coming in. he removed his shoes and headed to the table.

Valentina marveled at the situation that she ended up in where a top CEO was arranging dinner in her small apartment. Before she knew it, the table was covered with a sumptuous spread; braised short ribs, steamed fish, an array of stir-fried vegetables, three bowls of rice, several juices, bottled water, and cutlery.

Valentina placed Luca onto a chair and sat down across from Kaiser.

"Please eat," Kaiser said politely. Valentina wasn't polite and placed a little of everything on both her and Luca's plates.

As she began eating, she felt uncomfortable as both people stared at her in silence. Luca himself was fine as he was a child, but why was Kaiser staring at her in silence after he basically invited himself over?

Still, she wasn't one to break the silence, so she just quietly interacted with Luca throughout the meal. After eating her fill, Kaiser cleaned up the table while she carried a sleepy Luca who quickly fell asleep in her arms. She gently laid the boy on her couch and covered him with a throw blanket before sitting at the table and staring at Kaiser.

"Mr. Grayson, what is this about?" she finally caved and asked him coolly, "I did everything you wanted to previously, so why did you insist on coming over?"

After she said goodbye to Luca previously, she had planned on washing her hands from the Grayson family. She planned on focusing on the goals of the system and avenging the original Valentina and had no interest in tarnishing her reputation by being involved with this man.

Kaiser was silent for a moment before he asked, "How much?"

"Pardon me?"

"How much would it take to buy you?" he reiterated.

"Excuse me?" Valentina asked incredulously. Was he on drugs? What kind of question was that?

"How much would it take to buy you for a period of time? One million? Two million? Ten?" Kaiser continued asking her coolly. His grey eyes stared at her intensely and at his expressionless face, Valentina could feel her irritation build.

"I'll give you one chance to properly explain your words before I kick you out of my house. I'm not somebody to be bought and we as a society have moved from slavery and servitude." Valentina coldly retorted. Was this a new play that people with too much money indulged in?