Chapter 119: The Secret Boss

Once they walked into the hallway away from the noisy banquet tables, Jude pulled his arm away from Salma and looked down at her with a smile.

"Remind me, Miss Thompson... when did I ever ask you to bail me out back there?"

Salma stopped under a wall lamp, fixing her dress. "You didn’t."

"Then why tell three hundred people you’re handing me a three-billion-dollar blank check?" Jude shook his head lightly. "The way you said it, the whole room thinks we’re getting married by midnight."

Salma took a breath, looking right into his eyes. "Jude, I’m offering to put three billion dollars of my family’s cash behind your name with zero strings attached. Do you know how many guys in this city would kill for that kind of backing?"

"I appreciate the thought, Salma, really...but I don’t need your money," Jude said straight up.

Salma stared at him, lost for words, before lowering her voice. "Wait... don’t you want to buy the Heavens Club?"

"I’m walking out with the deed tonight, yeah... but I’m paying for it out of my own pocket," Jude replied. "Your family can bid for it too if you want. As long as Arthur Snyder and the guys backing him don’t get their hands on it, I’m happy."

Salma tilted her head, looking at his face for a long moment.

"Jude..." she whispered. "Do you really hate me that much?"

"I don’t hate you at all," Jude answered honestly. "Honestly, stepping up and taking heat for me back there proves what a great person you are. Even if you dropped the entire world’s money on that table, my answer wouldn’t change. You’re an incredible woman, Salma; you deserve a guy whose heart isn’t already taken."

Salma looked at him in silence for a couple of seconds, then let out a self-mocking laugh.

"If someone told me a month ago that I, Salma Thompson, would spend an evening begging a guy to take me and my family’s billions only to get rejected three times in a row, I’d have called them insane," she whispered, shaking her head.

Lifting her chin with her usual pride, she held out a hand. "Fine. From tonight on, we’re strictly friends."

"Deal," Jude nodded, shaking her hand briefly.

"Last chance, friend... are you sure you don’t want the Thompson money to help you take down the club tonight?" Salma raised an eyebrow.

"Keep your wallet in your pocket," Jude chuckled. "As long as we shut down Arthur Snyder, I’m good. In fact, if your family runs out of cash during the bidding later, just say the word and I’ll lend you some."

"Oh, please... and what are you lending us with your famous five million dollars?" Salma rolled her eyes with a smirk, spun around on her heels, and walked back across the floor to her grandfather’s table.

Watching her walk away into the crowd, Jude let out a quiet breath.

Shutting down a proud woman that bluntly wasn’t fun, but ripping the band-aid off clean was way better than giving her false hope...

Across the room at the main VIP table, Salma stopped next to her grandfather’s chair, her shoulders slumping.

"I struck out, Grandfather," Salma mumbled, looking defeated. "Jude said he doesn’t want a single penny of our money."

Instead of getting mad, old Frank Thompson let out a chuckle, his wrinkled hands resting on his cane.

"Of course he doesn’t. Three billion dollars sounds like all the money in the world to everyone else in this room, Salma, but to Mr. Lawson, it’s just pocket change. Still, I already got what I wanted tonight... and you did your job perfectly."

Salma blinked, confused. "Got what you wanted? Grandfather, what are you talking about?"

Frank Thompson’s wise eyes looked across the crowded hall toward Jude.

"Child, the man you were just trying to help isn’t some ordinary rich kid," the old man whispered so only she could hear. "Jude Lawson’s personal money crossed into the trillions a long time ago. Even if you sold every bank, tower, and trust our family owns, it wouldn’t match a fraction of what he has in this country alone. The reason I told you to step in and defend him wasn’t because he needed our cash... it was to make him remember your favor. If our family ever hits a storm we can’t survive, having Mr. Lawson remember that you stood up for him tonight will save our lives."

"Crossed into the trillions?!"

Salma froze like she’d been struck by lightning, her jaw dropping open in shock.

"And that’s just the stuff we can actually trace," Frank added with a sigh. "What he controls through secret global accounts is impossible to even count."

Slowly, Salma turned her head back toward the hallway where Jude was standing alone.

Remembering how she had proudly lectured him earlier about her family’s three billion dollars her face burned hotter than fire.

Before Salma could even pull herself together, the stage lights at the front flared bright, and the click of Vanessa Canfield’s heels echoed through the room.

Walking up to the mic with a smile, Vanessa spoke. "Good evening, everyone. I hope you’ve all enjoyed the drinks and food tonight!"

"Miss Canfield, cut the small talk! When is the owner finally walking in?!"

"Yeah, Miss Canfield! We’ve been waiting all night... are they showing up or what?!"

"Just put the bidding rules on the table already!"

Hearing everyone shouting from every corner, Vanessa let out a laugh that instantly quieted the whole room down.

"No need to look at the entrance doors, everyone," Vanessa said. "Actually, the founder and sole owner of the Heavens Club got here a while ago... and she’s been walking among you, watching the whole room in secret!"

The news hit the room like a bomb.

Wait... the secret boss of the Heavens Club is a woman?

And she’s been standing right here watching them all night?!

Instantly, chaos broke out across the floor...