“Mr. Green, Mr. White, you two showed up without even giving me a heads-up,” Teresa said as she poured them some coffee.
Alex said, “Ms. Johnston, we heard your company has some new winter styles coming out. Each of us is thinking of placing an order for 1 million dollars. What do you think? No rush, just get us on the schedule sometime this year.”
Teresa was stunned for a moment, then broke into a smile. She said, “It’s our pleasure to work with you again. The launch event is the day after tomorrow–I’ll make sure you both have the best seats.”
Zack laughed and said, “If we’re too busy, we’ll just have our assistants come by. Here’s the full payment for the order. We’ve worked together before, and we trust you–and we trust Mr. Lynn even more. No need for any more formalities.”
Alex and Zack skipped the deposit entirely and paid the full amount upfront. Once the contracts were signed, 2 million dollars landed in Teresa’s account.
Teresa was both surprised and honored, and wanted to invite them to dinner to show her appreciation.
But Alex and Zack said that they had other appointments and couldn’t stay. As they were about to leave, they each took out a bank card.
“For your second son. The PIN is the last four digits of your phone number,” Alex said.
Teresa froze for a second, completely stunned.
Zack chimed in, “We just heard you have a new baby boy in the family. Congratulations. It’s just a small token, nothing much, hope you don’t mind.”
Teresa had no idea how they found out, and of course, she tried to refuse.
But Alex and Zack hurried off without another word, leaving the bank cards behind.
Teresa figured each card probably just had tens of thousands on it–she could always pay them back later if needed. But when she checked the balance on the card, she was stunned.
Each card held 290 thousand.
Teresa thought, “They call this nothing much?” She took a deep breath and called Miriam, telling her the whole thing.
Miriam’s eyes sparkled. She exclaimed, “Damn, these rich guys showed up just in time—it’s like money raining from the sky.”
Teresa honestly never thought they’d be so generous with the bank cards.
Miriam grinned and said, “Well, now that we’ve got the cash, I’m telling them to use only the best materials for our samples.”
“Sounds good. Let me know how much it is, and I’ll transfer it to you,” Teresa replied.
Miriam nodded, then said, “These guys are real big shots. Don’t bother trying to give the cards back; they’ve already handed them over, and it’d be awkward to return them now.
“Just keep them for emergencies, and if they ever have a kid, you can pay it back then.”
Teresa was thinking the same thing. Since the money was already in her hands, she might as well just keep it. But the more she thought about it, the more something didn’t add up.
She thought, ‘I was desperate for cash to fill the gap, and then, out of nowhere, this windfall showed up, with so much money. Could it be Jonathan?’
Teresa immediately called Benny and asked him about this.
Benny replied, “No clue. I didn’t say a word to Jonathan.”
“You really didn’t?” Teresa pressed.
“Seriously, I didn’t. You told me to keep quiet, so why would I go blabbing?” Benny said, absentmindedly rubbing his nose, blinking, and glancing up at the ceiling on the other end of the line.
Teresa didn’t think much of it and hung up. She was getting ready to leave work and pick up her kid, and on the way, she planned to personally deliver an invitation to a female boss at a club.
The female boss was an old client, so she figured she should send the invitation herself to show respect.
Teresa headed to the club first. As soon as she walked in, she noticed a private room on the first floor with the door wide open. Inside, a few men were sitting around, and Eason stood out among them.
Eason spotted Teresa too, and the longer he looked, the more familiar she seemed–yet he couldn’t place who she reminded him of.