The big difference between Marcus and Lola’s way of earning was that Marcus had to pay taxes, whereas Lola didn’t need to.She did offline transactions most of the time, and she would even lend money to some income tax officers, so nobody would ever question her if she was paying the taxes or not.Growing up, Jim had seen Lola and Marcus argue about it.“You pay taxes, but if you don’t, then the government will threaten to ruin your life,” Lola told him. “Why should I pay them 20 to 40 percent of my earnings under duress and threat to the biggest criminals out there?”“But aren’t you trying to increase your wealth so you can become just like those people?” Marcus asked her. “Aren’t you contradicting yourself?”“Well, we don’t live in the land of the free. We are only told and made to think that way,” Lola said. “That’s why I’ll get to the top so that I can use this system for my own benefit. Don’t worry, Brother. Even if I get stupidly rich, I’ll still be your sister, and I’ll give on

The next day.Shiney was having brunch outside at an open restaurant. She saw the magazines on the small shelf outside, and one of the business magazines had the picture of her mother on the front page.“The prodigious financier?” Shiney raised her eyebrows. “Yeah, she’s talented when it comes to profiting off the money that others earn with her sweat and blood. All in the name of interest. And she wants me to learn her business craft. I would never do it because I’m not like her. I don’t want to live by leaching other people through interest.”Just then, someone came out of nowhere and sat on the other side of the table.Shiney’s expression briefly froze because it was Jim.“Red beans and rice?” Jim looked at her plate. “You like beef, don’t you? Want me to order that?”Shiney frowned. “What are you doing here? Did they send you to bring me back home?”“No, they can’t do that.”“Mm?”“Because I left their home, too,” Jim said, startling her.“W-What?” Shiney was pleasantly surprised.

Jim and Shiney were traveling in a Benz car.“Where did you get this costly vehicle?” she asked.“Rent,” he said.“Oh, where exactly are we going now?” she asked. “And how exactly are you going to buy the restaurant? Did you forget that she asked for twenty million dollars for the restaurant? Or was it thirty? I don’t quite remember. She might even raise the price this time. How are you going to pay that much amount?”“You will see soon,” Jim replied.Shiney smiled from seeing his confidence. “You didn’t loot some bank or something, did you?”Jim smiled and said, “No.”“What were you doing these past couple of weeks, Jim?” she asked.Jim’s expression changed, but he remained silent.“If you don’t want to talk about it, I won’t force you,” Shiney said. “I’m just that glad that you are back. At the same time, if there’s anything troubling you, then do tell me. I’ll help you in any way I can. I want to prove myself useful, too, you know.”“You are going to learn how to cook along with th

As they headed to the restaurant, Shiney asked, “Why do you still want to work as a chef, Jim? With your skills, you could easily become a tutor and earn a lot of money, right?” “I’m not good enough to teach others, Shiney,” he replied. “Stop kidding. You’ve been cooking with Uncle Marcus since you could walk,” she retorted. “If you are not good enough to teach others, then no chef in this world is good enough to teach others.” “I’ve always watched my dad cook with care,” Jim said. “Even when cutting onions, he’d use different techniques for different dishes to bring out different flavors out of onions. Everyone I see him putting in so much effort for every single dish, it’s like a slap in my face, you know. It tells me to work hard every single day and never take anything in cooking for granted. My dad could tell if the salt and spices were perfect just from seeing the color of the dish, or by sniffing it, but I still have to taste it every single time. I’m nowhere near as good as

At Draknor Finance.“This is your office now,” Steve Millman, the CEO of Draknor Finance, put keys to the chamber in Lola’s hand.“Thank you, Mr. Millman,” Lola spoke very respectfully. She didn’t show her excitement and was highly professional.“I’ll see you later then,” Steve said and left.It was a 1000 sqft chamber, with multiple subrooms in it. The main part of the chamber, the hall itself, was over 600 sq ft in area. There were refrigerators, coffeemakers, wine shelves, book shelves, magazine and newspaper holders, sofas that could be converted into beds and many more.But that wasn’t all.Lola walked to her majestic glass table where every item implicitly screamed quality.There was a holder for coupons from big stores, both offline and online. It was full of valid coupons which had at least fifty percent discount for everything.“Yeah, this is what is luxury,” Lola couldn’t help but smile as she felt like she was finally beginning to attain the power and freedom she had always