Rags to Riches

Chapter 17 In Deep Trouble

"A-All of these villas? That must cost an enormous sum of money, right?" Zoe's eyes and mouth were agape.

Even Vivian was in shock. She wondered how Marcus had heard of such news if she herself hadn't even known about it.

"Don't listen to him! Anyone intelligent knows better than to trust a loser like him. These villas cost more than a hundred million dollars each. I doubt anyone in Camron can afford such a price!" Henry snorted, thinking Marcus was lying to gain the women's attention.

"Oh, Marcus. Here's a word of advice; you should be more honest—" He was halfway through his sanctimonious speech when he unknowingly leaned against a porcelain vase as tall as a human. Then, he lost his footing.

A loud crash sounded as the vase shattered into many pieces. That wasn't the only issue; the other vases lined up behind it fell back like dominoes.

One by one, the delicate vases smashed against the ground.

Henry paled with every crash. By the end of everything, his ruddy complexion had faded to nothing but a ghastly pallor.

Zoe was so rattled that she couldn't stop trembling. Even her words came out shaky. "T-T-These aren't expensive, are they?"

"I-It should be fine." Henry eventually got up from the ground and gulped hard, sweat drenching the back of his clothes.

Meanwhile, a mischievous grin curled on Marcus' face as he tutted. "I suppose wealthier people like yourselves are on a different level. You freaked out over me stepping on the grass earlier, yet you're still fine after breaking nine—oh, my bad—ten vases. You're incredible."

"Shhh, Marcus!" Vivian shot him a death glare before holding Zoe's hands and comforting the latter, "Don't worry about it. These vases could be mere decorations. I doubt they're worth much."

Zoe balled her fists tightly, panicking and trying to convince herself everything was fine. "You're right! Why would anyone put something expensive out in the open? I bet these aren't worth much!"

Little did the group realize that Marcus had already picked up a shard and examined it. He later voiced, "Um, not to make you guys feel worse, but these porcelain vases are antiques. The craftsmanship isn't worth bragging about. However, they still cost around one million dollars each if we're being conservative."

His old master loved collecting antiques, so he had learned a thing or two during his time with the former.

"A million dollars for each? T-That means—there are ten vases here, so that's ten million in total?" Zoe screamed.

Panic shot to her head and nearly made her faint. Although she and Henry claimed to have over ten million dollars in assets, most of it was fixed assets, which meant their working capital was only one million dollars at best."

"What the hell do you know, loser? Quit acting like you're all that smart!" Henry barked at Marcus.

Just then, a group of people rushed toward them. Among the group was Warner Wentworth, the property caretaker of Hingbrook Hills' villas.

"My friend's here. He won't care about this measly incident!" Henry announced before turning around to approach Warner.

While snaking one arm around the latter's shoulder, he grinned. "Warner, buddy! I accidentally broke a few things earlier. I'm so sorry for the trouble. How about this? I'll make up for it by buying you a drink next time."

For a second, Warner's brows furrowed.

It was only after he saw the piles of shattered vases that his face turned into a pale, sickly green. Veins seeped into the whites of his eyes, and he bellowed, "What the actual fuck, Henry? That's what you meant by a few things? Do you know what those are? They're antiques and are worth at least a million dollars each!"

He and Henry had briefly met at a bar once. It was because Henry had bribed him with some gifts back then that he allowed Henry to visit the first level of villas at Hingbrook Hills.

The visit wasn't a big deal in itself. However, they were in deep trouble now that Henry had broken porcelain vases worth up to tens of millions of dollars.

More importantly, Warner might very well lose his job if he didn't resolve this matter immediately.

"A-are those really genuine antiques?" Henry stiffened, his bones rattling beneath his skin.

Vivian was equally shocked. She whipped her head around to whisper to Marcus, "How did you know about that?"

"I guessed," replied Marcus. He shrugged and flashed her a toothy grin.

"Tsk!" She decided not to pursue the matter since the former refused to tell her the truth.

Even so, she couldn't ignore the growing confusion in her heart. It was like she no longer understood or knew Marcus as well as she once did.

"What do we do, Henry? That's ten million dollars! We don't have that much money! Are we going to go broke?" Fear had engulfed Zoe's logic by then.

She burst into tears, her heart withering miserably at how her shot at bragging had turned into a disaster.

"Shut up!" Henry's mind was also in disarray. Then, a light bulb suddenly went off in his head, and he stormed before Marcus.

"It's all your fault! I wouldn't have lost my focus and stumbled if you didn't blabber all that nonsense about some mysterious person acquiring all the villas! You should be responsible for these damages!" he shouted.

At that point, Henry had completely lost his cool and couldn't care less about his pride. He would do anything to avoid paying the ten million dollars of compensation fees.

Like her husband, Zoe grasped onto any chance of escaping their current predicament. She immediately pointed fingers at Vivian and Marcus, yelling, "Yeah! All of this is your husband's fault, Vivian! I can't believe I was stupid enough to invite you two troublemakers here! Ugh, I don't care! You two must bear the compensation fees!"

That left Vivian dumbstruck. She raised both brows in disbelief at how her cousin had heartlessly pushed the blame onto her.

As for Marcus, he sent a quick text to Murray before stepping forward. What he said next shocked everyone there greatly.

"That's right! I broke the vases!" he declared.