Ch 7 - Rose’s Predicament

Ben and Carl were impressed. "Well said," they cheered simultaneously.

On the live channel, there was also a wave of admiration.

Little Tim: [This is what a rich person should be like.]

Harry's Cat: [That's great. One look and you can tell he has something to say.]

Silver Moon: [I like it. You're much stronger than those rich arrogant guys. What's happening now?]

Ghost Rider had become silent by this point.

The system message popped up in the message bar:

[Ghost Rider has left.]

The Ghost Rider had slipped away, and the audience was laughing.

On the live stream, another girl could be seen walking over to Minnie and placing her hands on her shoulders. Someone asked: [Minnie, who else is with you in your studio?] The girl had long hair, a pointed chin, and very light makeup. She was very pretty. She looked very relaxed on the live stream. As she looked at the camera, the audience watching the live streaming blog felt their hearts tremble.

Minnie introduced her. "Guys, this is my roommate, Cathy. She's so beautiful. If you keep watching my show, I'll give you her social media handle." Minnie held Cathy's hand and spoke sweetly to the screen.

Cathy had just been watching Minnie's live streaming blog. When she'd seen that her friend had been given 11 warships in just a few seconds, she became excited. Eleven warships were worth one-thousand dollars. Of course, she also wanted to find a rich man. If this admirer was a friend of Minnie, Cathy wanted to get to know him.

"Minnie, you haven't answered me yet. Who is this man?" Cathy asked her friend as she pulled over a chair and sat in front of the camera, openly looking at the screen, wanting the rich man who was watching the live streaming blog to have a good look at her.

"I don't know. I think it's Brad Sommers who came to watch my live streaming blog today." Minnie shook her head and looked at the camera. "Brad, are you still there?"

[Yes, I'm here,] came the reply.

Cathy was overjoyed. She was extremely excited and did everything she could to attract him. "Brad, you were so cool just now. You gave Minnie 11 warships without a second thought," she said. "You're so cool. I'm preparing to do my live stream. Will you watch it?"

**

When Ben saw Alex lying on the bed holding his phone, he was sure that he was also watching Minnie's live streaming blog. He tried to help him, "Alex, stop watching that. You know Cathy always gets excited when she sees a rich man. She's so shameless." 

Alex ignored him and continued to look at his phone.

**

"Cathy," Minnie called out to Cathy grumpily. "Why didn't you tell me that you're preparing to start a live stream? Even if you do, do you think you'll be able to steal Brad away from me?"

Cathy ignored Minnie's words and said shamelessly to the camera, "Brad, I'm still single and I haven't been able to find a suitable boyfriend. For some reason, I feel like you, and I feel a connection. I'd like us to get to know each other."

Cathy's coy expression as she spoke was touching.

Brad asked, [Are you still single?]

Cathy was slightly taken aback. She was so beautiful that she could understand that it was hard to believe that she was single. However, she had to give the right impression to help secure a rich husband, so she insisted that she was.

She also knew that men were particularly attracted to women who had not yet had a partner.

"Yeah, and I haven't even had a boyfriend yet," Cathy said coyly.

"Cathy, didn't you just break up with Alex? Aren't you dating Billy now?" Minnie asked Cathy, live on the show.

Minnie was used to Cathy's manipulative character. Normally, it didn't bother her, but this man had given her a gift worth a thousand dollars. She wasn't about to lose him to Cathy.

"Ahh." Cathy had not expected Minnie to expose her. She looked embarrassed and smiled apologetically. "Billy and I are just—we're just good friends. As for Alex, I felt sorry for him because he's poor, and I helped him study. As for me and him being in a relationship—that was all a rumour spread by our classmates." Cathy had managed to invent an excuse to prove her innocence to the possible suitor.

"Brad, if you want to get to know Cathy, add me—" Halfway through Minnie's words, the system prompted, [This viewer has already left the live broadcast room.]

Minnie and Cathy were disappointed.

**

Alex turned off his phone and lay on the bed. He stared at the wall but wasn't looking at it. He was thinking about Cathy's scene just now.

I was with Cathy for a year and yet she likened our relationship to helping a poor classmate. Her words are like a sword piercing my heart.

Alex smiled bitterly to himself. Cathy liked money. How would she feel if she knew how rich I was? 

**

The next morning, Alex and his dormmates returned to their dorm after class. They'd just finished eating their takeout and were preparing to relax for a while when Joe walked in. He looked depressed as he entered the room and said, "Something's happened."

"What's happened? What's your sports department done this time?" Ben asked as he sipped water from his glass.

"Something's happened to Rose." Joe sat down and looked at the other three. He was worried.

"What's going on?" Alex knew from Joe's face that it was something bad. 

"You know Rose slapped a guy when she left yesterday? Do you know who that man was?" Joe answered his question. "It was Luciel Brennan, the deputy manager of the Heavenly Lion Group."

"Holy shit, the Heavenly Lion Group," Ben exclaimed. He was shocked. He stood up and said loudly, "The Heavenly Lion Group ranks in the top 10 in New York City, right? There were Heavenly Lion retail offices on the streets that belonged to them, and this was only one of the businesses that belonged to their group. Rose has done it this time. Why did she hit him? She's definitely in trouble now."

Alex glanced at Ben, who was still talking non-stop. Then Alex looked at Joe and asked, "Doesn't Rose also come from a powerful family? Isn't there anything they can do?"

Alex knew that Rose's family were rich enough to open an account at the Metro Sky Bank, so they must be powerful.

"Rose's family owns a company called Shen Long Cargo Company, but it doesn't compare to the Heavenly Lion Corporation," Joe said with a frown.

"Suzan told me that Rose's company had bad news today. Rose's dad is really worried about several partnerships that are threatening to cancel." Joe crossed his arms.

"The Heavenly Lion Group must've done this. I've seen information about them on the internet. The boss of the group, Donald Brennan, is Luciel's father and he's bad news. He's very ruthless in his business dealings." Carl looked at Ben, then looked at Alex. His face was grave.

Just then, Joe's phone rang. It was his girlfriend, Suzan. Joe answered the phone nervously.

"Okay, I'll go right now. Okay, that's it. Bye then." Joe hung up the phone.

"Rose got a call from her dad. He's told her she has to fix it. He said the only way to resolve it is for her to spend one night with Luciel. Otherwise, Donald is going to ruin their family."

"Yesterday, I caught that lowlife, Luciel, looking weirdly at Rose. I think it will kill her to spend a night with him. Damn it, this father and son are bloody shameless." Ben cursed angrily.

Joe and the others also understood what it would mean for Rose to have to spend a night with Luciel Brennan.

"Don't say anymore. Let's go to Suzan's dorm now and help Rose come up with some ideas." Joe stood up quickly.

All four hurried outside and locked the door behind them.

After checking with the dorm front desk worker, Joe led Alex and the others quickly to the third floor and pushed open the door of the dorm room that Rose shared with her friends.

Although Rose and the others dressed well, the dorm room was run down. The blankets covering Suzan's bed appeared to be of good quality, but the other three beds looked very dishevelled.

Suzan, Stacy, and Betty sat beside Rose looking anxious. Rose sobbed and hugged her legs as she sat on the bed.

"How is she?" Joe asked Suzan as he entered the room.

Suzan stood up and dragged Joe and the others to the door. She turned around and looked at Rose with concern, then lowered her eyes and whispered to them, "Rose's dad knows that she's the one that caused this trouble and he shouted at her over the phone. She's been crying for almost three hours now, and her dad told her that if she can't sort things out, she'll have to spend the night with Luciel Brennan."

"Damn, what kind of father is he?" Ben couldn't help but feel disgusted.

"I guess he's in a tight spot," Suzan responded. "After all, seven or eight of his business partners are threatening to cancel their contracts. Anyone who hasn't threatened yet still might. Her dad called me in secret and asked me to take care of Rose. He's looking for ways to resolve this situation." With that, Suzan urged Joe and the others to Rose's side.

"Rose, don't cry. If Donald's family goes too far, we'll call the police to arrest them." Joe frowned as he tried to comfort her.

Ben took out his phone and said forcefully, "Let's call the police now. I'll call 911."

"Don't!" Rose cried.

Only then did she lookup. Her face had been buried in her knees. Her watery eyes were red from crying and she'd lost all traces of the arrogance that had been so evident the previous day. After all, Ben and the others were trying to help her.

She wiped her nose with the tissue that Cindy handed to her. With tears in her eyes, she said, "It's useless to call the police. It will only make things worse."

Rose was, after all, the child of a rich family. She had seen and heard some of the methods her father and the other bosses used to deal with such matters.

The police might anger Donald Brennan. If he was completely enraged, with his strength and power, the situation could get a hundred times worse than it was now.

"We need to find someone else to help," Ben said. "If we can find someone even more powerful, they might be able to sort it out. I'll call my dad and ask him." He stood up, took out his phone, and went to one side to make a call.

"I'll ask too." Suzan, Stacy, and Betty all answered.

However, they all knew in their hearts that with their family's connections there was no way they could stop Donald, the boss of the Heavenly Lion Group.

Alex spoke for the first time. "Don't worry, it will all be sorted out soon."