Chapter 28: A Better Deal... 40% Or Nothing

We pulled up to a sleek, modern two-story building tucked away in the design district. It wasn’t some cold, sixty-story corporate skyscraper, and there weren’t hundreds of suits pacing around. Inside, around two dozen focused, energetic staff were working on apparel prototypes, tech fabrics, and brand concepts.

It was clean, hungry, and nimble—the exact kind of grounded foundation that was perfect for investing real capital into, building something huge from the ground up beyond just a basic sponsorship deal.

I took the lead, walking in with May on my right and Chloe on my left.

The founder was waiting for us in a sunlit corner office. She was a middle-aged woman with sharp, observant eyes, but she radiated a genuine, warm energy that instantly set a completely different tone from the arrogant executives we’d dealt with before.

She stood up, offering a firm, welcoming handshake to each of us.

"Welcome," she said softly, her smile warm as her eyes rested on May. "It’s an honor. I watched you break that record yesterday. Incredible work."

"Thank you," May said, taking a seat beside me.

We sat down across her clean glass desk. Chloe pulled out a sleek notebook, ready to take notes, while I leaned forward, resting my hands on the table.

"I read your proposal," I started, keeping my voice calm and direct. "Out of the hundreds of messages flooding May’s inbox today from every massive corporate giant, yours was the only one worth my time to meet in person."

The founder smiled gracefully, leaning back. "Because those giants want to lease May’s fame to sell their existing shoes. I don’t want to lease her. I want to build a house with her. We have the manufacturing pipeline, the design team, and the supply chain, but we lack a global face. May has the world’s attention, but needs full control."

She folded her hands on the desk, looking straight at me. "So, tell me. How do you see us working together?"

The founder slid the printed, multi-page contract across the glass desk toward us.

May and I pulled it over to take a look, but after skimming through pages of dense paragraphs, endless legal jargon, and tiny print, we both looked at each other. There were way too many letters and complex terms—it was practically a wall of text lol.

I chuckled, sliding the folder right over to Chloe. "You’re up, legal consultant."

"My pleasure," Chloe said with a confident smile. She pulled out a highlighters-and-pen combo from her bag and dove straight into the document.

For the next ten minutes, the room was silent except for the soft sound of Chloe turning pages. Her eyes scanned every clause with pure focus. Finally, she capped her pen, looked up at the founder, and tapped a specific paragraph near the middle of the contract.

"Overall, this is a remarkably fair and clean proposal," Chloe said smoothly. "The equity split and manufacturing terms are solid. But I found one critical issue right here under Section 8, Clause B."

The founder tilted her head, listening attentively. "Which clause?"

"It states that while May retains creative input, your board holds final veto power over all line releases and marketing campaigns,"

Chloe explained, turning the folder so the founder could see her highlight. "That leaves a backdoor for your team to restrict her image if there’s ever a disagreement. If May is putting her name and face on this, she needs 100% unconditional freedom over design approvals, drop schedules, and creative direction. No board vetoes."

The founder looked at the highlighted line, then back at Chloe, genuinely impressed by how quickly she had caught it.

"Fair point," the founder nodded warmly, pulling out her laptop. "If we’re building a true partnership, May shouldn’t feel restricted by a board. Give me two minutes—I’ll remove the clause entirely and print a clean copy so May gets absolute creative freedom."

May leaned over to me and whispered with a big grin, "Best legal team ever."

I smiled, looking at the smooth exchange across the table, thoroughly impressed by how effortlessly Chloe handled the legal trap.

While Tiana was typing away on her laptop to print the updated contract, I casually leaned back and activated my system vision to scan the woman sitting across from us.

A glowing translucent interface popped up right over her:

[ Target Scanned: Tiana ]

[ Current Brand/Company Worth: $3.5M ]

[ Brand Growth Potential: 9.5/10 ]

[ Special Trait: Industrial Scale Booster (Accelerates product lineup expansion and global distribution yield by 300%) ]

[ Investment Cashback Multiplier: 35x System Return on direct capital injection ]

My eyes widened slightly behind my calm expression. A 35x system cashback on direct capital investment was insane.

If I dropped serious money straight into Tiana’s manufacturing line right now, the system would immediately trigger a massive payout in instant liquid cash. On top of that, taking a direct equity stake meant I would reap enormous real-world corporate dividends as Tiana’s company expanded into a global powerhouse using May’s world-record hype.

It was a total win-win: double-dipping from both system rewards and long-term business profits.

Tiana finished printing the fresh papers, handing the clean contract over to Chloe for a final glance. "There. Complete creative control, zero board vetoes for May."

"Looks perfect now," Chloe confirmed, handing the pen to May.

"Hold on a second before we sign," I said smoothly, catching Tiana’s attention. "Tiana, your setup here is incredible, but to compete with global giants, you’re going to need serious capital to scale manufacturing instantly. What if I don’t just bring May’s brand line to your company—what if I make a direct cash investment right now into your firm for a primary equity share?"

Tiana paused, looking at me with total surprise. "You want to invest direct cash into us?"

Tiana took the paper, her eyes going wide as she stared at the figure written on it.

"One million dollars..." she breathed, looking up at me in utter shock. She set the pen down, her hands trembling slightly. "A liquid capital injection of that size right now would completely transform our entire supply chain. We could secure top-tier raw materials and launch global distribution before the month ends."

"I know," I said smoothly, leaning back and resting my elbows on the armrests. "Which is why we need to discuss equity."

"I’ll have to call an emergency board meeting to approve an influx of this scale," she said, her voice full of sudden excitement. "Standard valuation for an investment like this would usually net you around 15% to 20% non-voting equity."

"That doesn’t work for me, Tiana," I replied softly, my tone completely calm but unyielding. "I’m not just bringing a million dollars in cold hard cash. I’m bringing May—the fastest woman on the planet, the world record holder, and the biggest trending name in sports right now. My capital pays for your factory expansion, and May’s name turns your company into an international powerhouse overnight."

Chloe caught on instantly, leaning forward to add weight to the negotiation. "Without May’s line, that million dollars only grows your facilities. With May’s exclusive line, your company valuation skyrockets to tens of millions within the first quarter. You aren’t just selling shares—you’re securing guaranteed market domination."

Tiana looked between Chloe and me, processing the math. She knew every word was the absolute truth.

"What percentage are you looking for?" Tiana asked, holding her breath.

"Thirty-five percent primary voting equity," I said, holding her gaze. "Plus an exclusive seat on the board for my management team. You keep majority ownership and run daily operations, but we build and scale this empire together as true co-owners."

Tiana stared at me for a long moment. She didn’t look angry—she looked blown away by the sheer speed and confidence of the deal.

"Give me ten minutes with the board," she said, standing up and grabbing her tablet. "I’ll make them see reason."

Tiana pulled up the digital board meeting on the large screen in the corner of her office. The faces of six key board members stared back at us, their expressions tense.

"One million dollars is a massive capital injection," one elderly board member said, leaning close to his camera. "But 35% voting equity? That gives an outside investor way too much control over our core operations."

Another member shook his head. "We can give you 20%, plus May’s performance royalties. That is our final offer."

I let out a low, amused chuckle, leaning back in my chair and crossing my legs.

"Then this conversation is over," I said, my voice dead calm. "May, let’s go. We have a meeting with Nike at three."

May stood up on cue, smoothing down her jacket without missing a beat.

The board members on the screen visibly panicked. "Wait! Hold on!"

I turned back to the screen, resting my hands on the glass table and leaning in close.

"You think $1,000,000 is the main value here?" I said, looking every single one of them in the eyes. "My money builds your factories, but May—the fastest woman on Earth, holding a 10.38s world record—is going to make this company a household name overnight. You are an overlooked brand sitting on idle machines. Without us, you stay small. With us, you go global."

I held up four fingers. "Because you hesitated, the price just went up. 40% equity. Take it right now, or we walk out that door and sign a multi-million dollar exclusive deal with a corporate titan who actually knows how to move fast."

Fear flushed through the digital room. They looked at each other, murmuring frantically, realizing that if May walked away and launched her line with a rival, their company would be left in the dust forever.

"Wait—if you walk, another brand takes everything!" one board member stammered out. "We can’t lose this opportunity!"

"Then make your decision," I said coldly.

The main shareholder on the call swallowed hard, wiped sweat from his forehead, and threw his hands up. "Fine! Not just 40%—we will give you 50% total co-ownership! Equal partnership! Just lock May into an exclusive contract with us today!"

The fear of losing the biggest sports sensation in history completely broke them. They didn’t just give in; they handed over half the entire company to secure her.

Tiana stared at the screen, then looked back at me in complete awe. Chloe grinned, quickly updating the digital contracts on her tablet.

Tiana slid the freshly updated tablet across the desk with a shaky hand. "Sign here... partner."