Chapter 540

James merely held out a finger.

"Ten million?" Dahlia took a deep breath and tried to suppress her

anger. "It's quite a lot, but

at least we can still pay it back. Treat it as the price of a lesson

learned."

"You've got it wrong, Sis. It's not just ten million dollars; it's a

hundred million." James mumbled weakly.

"A hundred million?!" Dahlia paled. "Are you serious? Where did you

get so much money in the first place?"

"We had a few million in savings. Then, we used our two villas to

take out loans. Mom stole the remaining tens of thousands from you."

James shrank back and confessed softly.

"What?" Dahlia's blood boiled. "A-are you guys crazy? Taking loans

and stealing? Who said you could do that?"

Who in their right mind would sell their house to invest in a

business? What a fool!

"It's all my fault, Dahlia. I'm so sorry. I should die instead!"

Florence moaned and began banging her head on the wall again, acting so

well that she deserved an Oscar.

"Enough!" Dahlia yelled. "Rather than commit suicide, why don't you

think of a way to take care of this mess?"

"You're the president of Cardinal Group now. A hundred million

dollars shouldn't be a lot to you, right?" Florence asked tentatively.

"Yeah, right!" Dahlia humphed, irritated. "I borrowed ten billion and

merely bought a portion of the company's shares. It's not time for

dividends yet, so I don't have any spare cash. Besides, I have a onebillion-dollar loan to pay back, so I'll be in debt for the next three

years!

"What? Is it that serious?" Florence was shocked. She thought Dahlia

was living a glorious life after being promoted to President and didn't

know that her daughter was struggling so badly. "Aunt Florence." Just

then, Julie and her mother, Victoria, walked into the room.

"Julie, you're here. How did it go? Did you manage to find Terence?"

Florence sprung up expectantly. Things were still salvageable if they

could catch Terrence.

"We couldn't get ahold of him at all. I'm sure he ran away." Julie

sighed.

"Who knew that he was a swindler? Curse our rotten luck!" Victoria

spat.

"Julie, Terrence is your boyfriend. How do you propose we solve this

issue?" James demanded.

"What does it have to do with me? I'm not the one who lied to you!"

Julie frowned. "Besides,

we're victims too! We lost a lot of money as well!"

"Who knows if you guys are working together?" James retorted.

"Hey! What do you mean by that?" Julie sprung up and demanded.

"Enough. We're a family. It's not the time to fight right now. We

should be working together to get past this storm." Florence placated.

"Dahlia, you're the smartest here. What should we do now?"

"Admit defeat, I guess. Whatever else?" Dahlia grumbled.

"I have an idea." Suddenly thinking of an idea, Julie whispered.

"Since Terrence lied to us, we can do the same to someone else. As long

as we find another scapegoat, everything will be fine.

"That's a good idea. My daughter is so smart!" Victoria's eyes

immediately lit up. Julie was right. Rather than suffering themselves,

why don't they make someone else suffer? They should just act in their

own interests.

"That is a good idea, but where will we find the scapegoat?" James

rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"A scapegoat?" Florence thought about it for a second, and her eyes

shot to Dustin. Wasn't there a perfect one right there?