"Windsor family will fully support the Smith family so that the sugar production chain can be established along the whole length of the empire. We can start with a small region on an experimental basis and can attract future investments from the other cities based on the demand of the item in the future. All we ask in return from you is to give us a small percentage of shares and the transparency regarding the well being of the industry and our finances."
Violet had been looking after the family for a long time as well. She was more up to date with some of the matters compared to her father who had stayed in bed most of the time due to his illness. Therefore, she still held most of the decision making power even after her father had returned to take over the family. Therefore she didn't even ask for her father's opinion when she knew that her father might have a biased opinion this time.
Still, the conditions she had proposed were the least difficult in the industry and would be readily accepted by any businessman, let alone the budding Smith family that had no capital whatsoever.
Contrary to her expectations, Bruce shook his head in the negative.
Violet couldn't believe her eyes. She had already promised to give them the controlling stakes and had only asked for a very small percentage of the total profits and yet Bruce wanted more from her. She wondered if Zach was kicking them to the curb after gaining benefits from them. Even though he had helped out the Windsor family, they had given Zach some benefits in return as well.
This kind of approach was akin to burning the bridge after crossing to the other side. Violet didn't believe that Zach was such a man but his actions so far caused her to misunderstand. Not only had Zach not come himself to negotiate with Marico but his representative was unwilling to accept a deal as good and reasonable as she had presented.
Marico's facial expressions were not good either. He was worried that some other powerful family like the Hunter family had approached Zach with better conditions due to which the latter was willing to throw them away after gaining benefits from them. If such a thing were to occur, the survival of the Windsor family would be threatened.
During the years of his weakness, the foundation of the Windsor family came close to crumbling. If the enemies gained a helper like Zach in this crucial time, it wouldn't take long before they would be able to deal the final blow to his family without suffering any consequences at all.
His scrunched up face and frowning eyebrows gave a clear picture of the worry in his heart. Sweating his insides out, Marico looked at Bruce helplessly as he wished that Bruce wasn't serious about his demands. They couldn't possibly invest in a venture that would not earn them any money but will become an iron trap for all their capital.
Violet couldn't help but be a little dissatisfied with the Smith family's way of doing things. Her unhappiness was visible to Bruce as well who hurriedly tried to take control of the matter so as to not let the Windsor family misunderstand the Smith family's motives and Zach's goodwill towards them.
Bruce laughed heartily as if everything he had just said was a lighthearted joke. He had been trying to be mysterious earlier by saying no to their proposal but his plan had backfired in the worst possible manner. Thankfully, he wasn't kicked out of the Windsor family for rejecting such a gesture of goodwill from the Windsor family.
"Your conditions are too good but we cannot accept your proposal unfortunately. I am here as a representative of our leader to do his bidding. If it had been up to me, I would have readily accepted your terms since they are very lucrative to me as a businessman. Our leader on the other hand doesn't think the same as me. He has already given me instructions on what to do with this deal."
All the listeners' attention was piqued by Bruce's words. They had been wondering if Bruce was acting on his own when he came to them with the proposal but Bruce's words made them dissatisfied with Zach.
Even his subordinate thought that the terms of the Windsor family were good but Zach had instructed him not to settle.
Unlike Violet and Marico, Clara didn't believe that Zach would be so harsh with the Windsor family. Therefore she hurriedly asked, "Then what conditions did Zach ask you to agree on? What is your bottom line?"
Bruce smiled when he saw Clara cooperate with him in revealing the surprise he had planned for the Windsor family.
"Smith family will not be involved in the sugar production business in the future. Since it is a large scale project that would surely attract the attention of the whole world, our leader doesn't think it is suitable with his strategic direction for our family. He intends to keep a low profile. Therefore, he has decided to teach everything regarding the production process to Windsor family so you will be able to build the production and distribution chain for the product as you see fit. The smith family will not interfere with your business in any manner whatsoever. This will be the business of the Windsor family in the future."
Bruce was focused on saying everything he had to say but he failed to check the facial expressions of those involved. The announcement seemed to have claimed the souls of the participants. They looked like lifeless dolls that were devoid of all intelligence and were incapable of comprehending the meaning behind Bruce's words.
Violet was dumbstruck at first but then embarrassment took over her disbelief and made her feel guilty for ever doubting Zach's sincerity. She had even scolded him in her heart so many times for being ungrateful and for forgetting those who helped him when he made it rich. Thinking back on it now, she remembered that they had received more help from him than he did from them. Not only that, the Windsor family had helped him because of their selfish motive while he had helped her sister in the wild when he didn't even know her.
Based on the facts, Violet should be the one ashamed for still expecting to receive benefits from him. She hurriedly put on an embarrassed smile on her face so as to listen to the details of the cooperation from Bruce.
Marico was the same as Violet. He was in disbelief and felt as if he had misheard the whole thing or had misinterpreted Bruce's words into what he wished them to be.
He looked at Bruce's expressions in order to make out if he was joking or not.
Upon confirmation, Marico couldn't control his thoughts from running wild. In so many years that he had been the leader of the Windsor family, this was the first opportunity of this size that Marico had encountered. This one opportunity would have a greater impact on the prestige and the market value of Windsor family than all the opportunities combines since the inception of the family by the founding members.
Marico imagined himself as the controlling authority of such a huge business empire. Even though it would get busy due to the scale of the business he had in mind, Marico could not help but feel the power such a position would entail. Hundreds and thousands of people would be looking at him to receive a command as ruled over the entire sugar production chain. His family could even make the jump to become a great family that was previously impossible during his tenure as the leader. If they could master the sugar production process, the Windsor family would surely enter a new era of prosperity like none before.
Before his fantasies could go any further, Marico reined in his mind and put in some thought before accepting such an offer. The reason was that there was no such thing that was free in this world. There was no pure kindness or pure affection. Everything was laced with greed and selfish desires. Such a kind and generous offer appeared good on the surface but the underlying conditions were usually too harsh to be considered.
Therefore, he needed all his mental faculties active when he made the decision to either accept or reject Zach's offer.
"There can't be such a good thing in this world. What are his conditions for giving us such a large piece of pie to us?" asked Marico conscious of some underlying scheme.
He didn't even think how his emotions had taken a one eighty degree turn. Previously he had been scolding Zach for being ungrateful when he thought that Zach had laid down conditions that were too harsh to accept. And now when Zach's conditions were too good and beneficial to Marico and his family, he doubted his sincerity.
"Of course there are conditions that you have to accept in return for such a generous offer. Despite the good relationship between the families, we are businessmen at our core. We can't ignore easy benefits when we can help it."
"I understand; please state his conditions." Marico obviously understood that there were terms. He was a businessman as well. But he didn't know that the conditions for the deal didn't come from Zach but from Bruce. Zach had completely left the matter of the negotiations to Bruce as he put his entire focus on their future home.
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