I'm Giving You This Chance.

The guests were talking with one another, and the atmosphere of joy and fun reigned in the hall. Elena's father was incredibly pleased that their cunning plan was such a success. He could now plan a further counter-attack on Greenline Inc. in more detail.

Although, given the current situation in the stock market, he could not even bother with this issue.

"Listen, Chen, did you find out who was buying the stocks?" Jason's father, who was also among the guests, asked Mr. Lee.

"Hmm, honestly, no. Our search ended in deadlock. Someone took a fundamental approach in this case. If offshore transactions can somehow be traced, then when it comes to cryptocurrency accounts, we can't do anything here to track those. What do you think, will your specialists be able to help us with this?"

"You know, I asked our pros, they said that all transactions with cryptocurrency are anonymous and it is not possible to track them," John Burton said with disappointment.

"And they call themselves hackers? Are they even useful?"

"Chen, this is not installing a wiretap or hacking someone's e-mail we are talking about. Even Russian hackers will not help here."

"Ahaha, funny joke, does this hacker trick still work?" President Lee asked with irony.

Mr. Barton grinned, "Everything works as long as people believe it. Your engagement trick is also far from a fair game, my friend."

"Well, I was not the first to start this game. By the way, did you hear about Matthews? You seemed to be in close contact with him. Is everything serious there?"

"More serious than ever, Chen," Mr. Barton replied, "His company went bankrupt practically within a week. He declared himself bankrupt and sold all his property. I don't even know where he is now."

"Hmm, this all is suspicious somehow. There was no apparent reason for such an event to happen," President Lee said and became lost in his thoughts.

In recent days, something strange was indeed happening on the market, and many people in business were under great stress, not knowing what to expect.

"Rick, could you please join us for a moment?" Chen asked a young man who was passing by them.

Rick came right up to them and greeted Mr. Barton and asked, "Did you want to talk to me, Mr. Lee?"

"Where is Elena? I don't see her among the guests."

"Ah, Elena...," Rick deliberately looked around, and then, as if remembering, said, "She and Corey decided to go up to the room and take some time off from all this fuss. Do you want me to call them and ask them to come back?"

"No, no need to do it. Mr. Barton and I wanted to discuss some matters, and I was thinking of going up to the room. They are in the presidential suite, right?"

"Um, sir, if I may, could you wait at least twenty minutes?" Rick used his charm to the maximum level possible. "I'm sure the girls will be back soon. Let's not disturb them for a little while. And when they come back, you will quietly go to the room and discuss all issues."

Perhaps the most negative option would be if Elena's father caught her with David in Rick's room. The young man could not allow such a thing to happen.

President Lee was thinking about the words of his fictitious son-in-law, and nodded approvingly, "Of course, no problem. We still have not talked to everyone. Extra half an hour won't be such a big deal."

And two adult men went further, welcoming their old friends among the guests.

Rick let out a sigh of relief, "Phew, my hair will turn gray earlier than I thought."

"Do the blonds turn gray?"

Rick almost jumped in surprise. Jason was standing behind him and sipping his juice in a relaxed way.

"Do you want me to have a heart attack, huh, man? Who sneaks up from the back like that?!"

Jason made a surprised face, but inside, he was about to jump with joy. Who would have thought that he would cause Rick Stein himself to become so confused, even in such a childish way?

"Sorry, buddy. I did not mean it," he replied, but the joy in his voice indicated the opposite. "By the way, where are the girls? I wanted to take Corey home after the event."

"Corey? Home? You??? Why on earth would that be possible?" Rick asked. Such an offer clearly did not give bring him any joy.

"Well, you won't be taking her home, right? You are the "bridegroom" today, so your task is to run after your "bride". This is your plan, right?" Jason replied and smiled slyly.

Rick looked at the young man as if analyzing him, then approached closer to him, put his hand on Jason's shoulder and whispered in his ear, "So be it. I am giving you this chance, take advantage of it. You will have no such opportunity anymore," he said, and, smiling, kept on going.

'What a show-off,' Jason thought to himself with annoyance, 'I don't do anything just because she loves you. But if you stumble somewhere, I will not back off, Rick Stein.'