Thirty-six billion dors.
Lauretta could put up a billion. Antoney, after speaking with his father, Nicolle Watson, could scrape together about three billion, but that was the limit-they still had to keep The Watson Group running smoothly.
Haynes could temporarily free up seven billion in liquid assets, but once he handed that over to Ste, hispany would have to make every investment decision with extreme caution.
If the cash flow broke down, it would be a disaster.
Foreman, after hearing about the situation, was willing to contribute four billion. Neville could manage five billion.
Altogether, that made just twenty billion.
There was still a hole of over ten billion-impossible to fill.
Even if Ste went to Mr. Burton for a loan, there was no way he could produce sixteen billion at the drop of a hat.
Besides, she couldn''t ask Haynes, Neville, and Foreman to pour all their working capital into her project. If theirpanies ran into a cash crunch and couldn''te up with the money, she''d go down in history as the one who ruined them all. Once Ste confirmed she was in the clear, she was discharged from the hospital. She needed to find a way to raise more funds.<fn21ef> This text is hosted at Find[?]ovel</fn21ef>
Right now, her only real asset was the original shares her mother had left her.
After some thought, Ste decided to have Aicken reach out to the shareholders who had supported Nora.
Joshua saw what she was nning and caught on immediately.
"You''re thinking of selling those original shares to them?"
Ste nodded just don''t have enough liquidity at the moment. Even with Haynes helping, there''s no way I can raise so much money in just three days And if they pitch in, their own funds will be stretched thin. I won''t be able to repay them anytime soon. Thatck of cash flow would affect a lot of their business decisions." s
She paused, her tone resolute. "I don''t want to owe them such a huge favor. It''s better to rely on myself than to keep asking others for help. Besides, even if I weren''t trying to acere the Pearce Group, theck of working capital is still my weakness. Sooner orter, I''d have to fix it." s
Joshua said, "I thought you''d be reluctant to sell your mother''s original shares."
Ste smiled faintly. "Things are just things. People are what matter. My mother didn''t leave me those shares so I could cling to them out of nostalgia. She wanted me to use what she left me to live a better life."
She''d thought it through. Sooner orter, she''d have to sell off a portion of those original shares to create her own cash flow. Without it, everything she did would be just talk—she couldn''t invest, couldn''tunch any projects.
Nora, back then, had sold off family assets just to scrape together the capital she needed to invest.
Ste didn''t have much in the way of assets herself. She couldn''t go running to her friends every time she needed money.
In the end, Ste decided to solve the problem once and for all.
And selling to the shareholders who''d supported Nora was the best choice- they''d backed her mother, and they''d back her, too. If she wanted to buy the shares back someday, negotiating with them would be straightforward.
With that in mind, Ste turned to Joshua. "What do you think?"
She looked up, and caught his gaze unexpectedly-eyes dark and gentle, as if filled with a sky full of stars.
He smiled. “Given your situation, it''s by far the best option. But.....”
Ste asked instinctively, "But what?"
Joshua replied, "Have you considered the Williams family? Their power is spread out, but for a family of their stature, pulling together this much capital shouldn''t be an issue."
Ste snorted
"Of course I''ve
ét
thought about it. But the Williams family would demand my original shares in exchange-and probably try to drive a hard bargain, asking for as much as they could possibly get They''d act as if they were doing me a huge favor, all the while scheming to get every share I own." s