Evangeline was attractive before—sharp, elegant, sophisticated. But now she shines like a polished fantasy—sexy, alluring, mysterious. John didn't just do a good job. He rebranded her.

  Lyra’s eyes narrow with delight. “Jianhua, now I wish you’d give me the full treatment,” she laughs, rich and unhurried, like a woman who’s profited from every gamble she’s ever made.

  I glance at Lyra. She's glowing with triumph. I underestimated her—again. One night, and she’s gutted the fastest growing company in the country. And the highly anticipated IPO? Mortally wounded.

  Now I have no choice but to accelerate. Before Yuan Ma launches a counteroffensive. Before the vultures and hyenas scent blood.

  I despise being rushed. I'm allergic to risk. A contradiction, you’d think, for a man in my profession.

  But in the Ruby Republic, risk is optional. Leverage the right nodes of power, and your investments become inevitabilities.

  Take last week: I cleared nearly ten billion after whispers spread about the Vice Governor of Guangdong stepping down.

  Five contenders. All highly placed. All suddenly desperate for favors. And they all came to me.

  In one of the deals I made, Xinhui Ma, the Party Secretary of Shenzhen, got a nudge from me. He directed Shenzhen Investment Holdings to acquire Xinda Property Insurance—financial corpse, hemorrhaging cash and credibility—for 4.26 billion.

  Six months ago, I quietly acquired 49% of Xinda for a quarter billion. Back then, I was hailed as a savior. But that price wasn’t a bargain—it was a pre-mortem handshake.

  No one else wanted it. The property insurance license wasn’t valuable enough for private buyers, and state-owned capital wouldn’t touch a loss-making firm with hazmat gloves. In this country, losing state assets isn’t a mistake—it’s a prosecutable offense.

  But Shenzhen Holdings had a portfolio large enough to absorb the hit, at least temporarily. And Jianxing Xu—the CEO of Xinda’s parent company—is the brother-in-law of one of the Ruby Five’s wives. With our combined endorsements, we guaranteed one precious vote for Xinhui Ma’s promotion. To him? His successor can deal with the fallout. He’ll be too high up to care.

  I prefer deals like that. Quick turnaround, virtually no risk. The profit is locked in before I even place the bet.

  This current transaction? Not so simple. Too many adversaries. Too many moving parts.

  And then there is Evangeline. Foreigners are hard to predict. I still suspect she might back out at the last minute.

  … …

  “Ms. Hightower,” I begin, watching her like I’d watch a volatile stock. “How are you feeling today?”

  She meets my gaze without hesitation. “Thank you for asking,” she says evenly, “I’m ready.”

  Confident. Controlled. Not easily shaken. I gesture to the chair beside mine. “I hear you studied finance at Wharton. Join us—I’d like your input.”

  Lyra raises a brow. She didn’t expect me to let the pretty outsider into the war room. But she keeps her silence. Smart. She knows exactly what I’m doing.

  The best way to motivate someone is to give them a stake. Plus, I also want to see her business acumen and ability to think on the fly. Is she just a decorated résumé? Or does her polish hide bite?

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  She settles into the chair, poised and radiant. Up close, the transformation is undeniable—grace tempered by seduction, innocence wrapped in steel. A volatile mix. Dynamite to men.

  “Absolutely,” she replies. “I’ve been curious who you’re selling me to—and for how much.” She teases.

  I laugh—genuinely. She stays bold, smart, and unfazed as I casually rest my hand on her thigh. Her beautiful long legs do not so much as twitch. She does not flinch. She sharpens.

  “Zhanwei,” I instruct, “summarize your findings.”

  Zhanwei Xiao is the best accountant money can buy. And he’s mine. Same surname, same hometown. That matters here. In the Republic, blood and soil put labels on a guy.

  That little princess’s laptop turned out to be a goldmine—spreadsheets, internal decks, secret memos. That’s the risk of grooming your entitled child as heir. A grotesque miscalculation. I glance at Evangeline. Is Alaric Hightower, Yuan Ma's Western counterpart, making the same mistake?

  “Antz Financial’s P2P model is a Ponzi scheme,” Zhanwei begins. “They promise lenders 20% returns, issue loans at 36%, and claim a 16% spread. Looks solid—until you dig deeper.”

  He flips through the pages like slicing meat.

  “At those rates, default exceeds 30%. Worse, they’re onboarding investors ten times faster than they can place loans. Most of the capital ends up parked in short-term, low-yield instruments just to maintain liquidity. They’re burning cash. The only thing propping them up is the influx of new money—paying old obligations with new ones.”

  Evangeline tilts her head, brows raised. “Why would someone like Yuan Ma—reputable, powerful—anchor himself to a structure designed to implode?”

  She completely ignores my hand ravenously moving up and down her silky, virgin skin. Doesn't rebuke it. Just makes it irrelevant.

  “Sweetheart, you are being naive again.” Lyra answers, voice thick with velvet mockery. “Who told you this was a losing model? It’s textbook success.”

  Evangeline leans in. “Enlighten me.”

  Lyra’s tone shifts—patient now, like she’s training a new recruit. “The Republic is hungry. One billion citizens conditioned to worship money. Perfect soil for a Ponzi scam.”

  “You build momentum. Inflate the metrics. Show explosive growth. Go public. Pull in capital. Cover obligations. Then you lower interest to normal rates. Transform into a sustainable business. Exit clean. No debts, no trouble.”

  Zhanwei chimes in. “Antz owns the dominant online payment platform—touches nearly half the country. The P2P business booms off that foundation. High-return investment package and easy no-credit-check loans, in turn broaden the appeal of its payment system. It’s a brilliant feedback loop. A remarkable success story. The upcoming IPO is projected to be the largest in Ruby Republic history—possibly global history.”

  And they dared to not include me in the feast. I seethe beneath my composure. That debt will be collected.

  Evangeline doesn’t blink. “What about the regulators? Doesn’t the FRC audit them before they list?”

  “Honey,” Lyra scoffs, melodic and cruel. “No company goes public if FRC does its job. In this country, books are written to be cooked. Every man has his price. That's the beauty of doing business in a godless nation.”

  Her gaze lingers on Evangeline. Subtle. Calculating. “You should seize that.”

  The implication is clear. Play your hand right, and you'll inherit more than you’d imagined.

  Evangeline pauses. Then speaks. Her voice is low, toughtful—dangerous.

  “I see a disaster coming. Antz has triggered a frenzy. Thousands of copycat platforms are mimicking the model. If my research is correct, over five thousand firms have absorbed more than half a trillion yuan in personal investment. With triple-digit growth rates, in two years, the exposure could hit two, even three trillion. That’s nearly a third of disposable household wealth.”

  She breathes once. “And when those dominos fall? No IPO will save them. The damage will be national.”

  I slide my hand away—not out of leniency or shame, but out of respect.

  Lyra nods, slow and deliberate.

  Smart people build businesses. But only those who see the collapse before it happens—only those who can weaponize it—build empires.

  Evangeline Hightower just earned her seat at the table.

  /*Spoiler Alert: After the P2P industry crashed in 2017, the Rubian Central Bank regulated the Internet Loans industry, forbidding interest rates over 16%.

  ***/

  /P2P lending is a form of online finance that aimed to directly connect individual lenders (investors) with individual borrowers, bypassing traditional financial institutions like banks. The idea was that this would make it easier for small businesses and individuals to get loans and for regular people to invest their money and earn high returns./

  /*Note on Currency:

  The official currency of the Ruby Republic is RMB, which stands for Red Minted Bullion. Its basic unit is the yuan, a commonly used term for currency within the Republic. In 2015, the exchange rate between the US dollar and the RMB fluctuated between 6.28 and 6.52 yuan per dollar, reflecting modest shifts in valuation throughout the year.*/