“Hello.”
Romeo quickly answered the phone, “Mr. Duncan, what can I do for you?”
Romeo’s indifferent demeanor made Kevin even more afraid.
“I’ve thought about it, and I believe you’re a reliable partner. How about considering a collaboration?”
In his office, Romeo heard these words and Patrick, with his hands on his waist, eagerly awaited Kevin’s response.
“Mr. Duncan, you truly are a straightforward person. I’ve been waiting for this moment,” Romeo chuckled and introduced all his resources to Kevin. “Currently, my company needs funds for circulation. Rest assured, once the resources start running, I will immediately return 80% of the funds to you. In other words, you only need to pay 20% of the funds.”
Romeo pressed on, and seeing Kevin hesitate, he started talking about profits. “I’m confident that the winnings from this project will be much more than this. We can split it fifty-fifty. What do you think?”
Faced with Romeo’s profit proposition, Kevin couldn’t help but feel tempted.
He reluctantly nodded, “Alright, I agree.”
After the call ended, Kevin transferred the funds to Romeo’s name and, under Romeo’s instigation, kept adding more.
A few days later, Kevin received another call from Romeo.
Romeo had been calling him frequently these days, always claiming that the funds were not circulating and seeking Kevin’s help.
And Kevin, in his desperate state, believed Romeo’s words and gradually emptied his funds.
As Kevin looked at Romeo’s call, he fell into contemplation.
“Mr. Duncan, I have good news. The project has finally been developed successfully and will be listed soon.”
Romeo’s words gave Kevin hope once again.
His eyes lit up, and he sat up, saying, “Really? In that case, we can soon face the general public.”
For days, Kevin had been investing money, and now that the project was going public, he could finally reap the profits.
“Yes, but…” Romeo put on an embarrassed expression. “The project’s listing will still take some time. During this period, it needs continuous funding, which is not a small expense.”
As soon as Romeo spoke, Kevin realized that he was going to ask for more funds again.
Kevin’s funds were being gradually depleted by Romeo, and yet Romeo persistently asked for more.
“Don’t your company have any funds at all? I’ve been the one providing the money all this time, and I don’t see any contribution from your company.”
Kevin raised his doubts, and the response from the other end was evasive.
“The project was created by our company, so naturally, we know where the funds are needed.”
Seeing Romeo avoiding the question, Kevin instantly realized something was wrong.
“Tell me, where did all those funds go?”
Caught off guard by Kevin’s sudden realization, Romeo hesitated for a moment and answered, “Naturally, they were used for the project’s development.”
“Since the project hasn’t gone public yet, are all those funds still there?”
Realizing that things were not going well, Romeo threatened with the project’s profits, “If you want to back out now, then we’ll have to find someone else to develop this project. It’s a significant profit, so Mr. Duncan, don’t be envious.”
Hearing these words, Kevin fell into contemplation.
But Romeo’s project was like a bottomless pit. From start to finish, Kevin never saw what the project looked like.
This made him uncertain whether this project would indeed yield high profits as Romeo claimed.
In the realm of business, it was always a competitive game of winners and losers. If the project failed and he had invested all his funds into it, the loss would outweigh the gains.
With these thoughts in mind, Kevin became even more determined.
If he used this capital for the project and it failed, his situation would only become worse than it is now.
Kevin couldn’t afford to gamble with such a large stake.
“Hmm? Mr. Duncan?”
As Kevin remained silent on the other end of the line, Romeo asked for his opinion. But Kevin had made up his mind, “I think it’s better to cancel our collaboration. The funding requirements are too high. If it were before, I would have supported you to continue, but I’m sorry.”
Kevin’s words were seamless, leaving Romeo with no room for counterattack.
Kevin was clever, and it seemed that this time he had abandoned the idea of working with Romeo after weighing the pros and cons.
Romeo didn’t insist, simply nodded, and agreed, “Alright, I hope you won’t regret it later.”
Unexpectedly, Romeo agreed so readily, which surprised Kevin.
It was due to the capital investment in the project that there might be a temporary liquidity issue. However, shortly after, Romeo directly transferred the original amount of funds to Kevin’s name.
It was difficult to extract such a large sum of money from the project at the moment, and Kevin knew instantly that this was Romeo returning his original investment.
Kevin never expected Romeo to have such a large sum of money on his own. Looking at the amount, he recalled what Romeo had said at the front desk of Star Entertainment. Could it be that Romeo was truly a big client?
If they hadn’t started the project yet, then the entire project was being funded by his company. Could it be that they were just testing him?
All these thoughts plunged Kevin into contemplation. For a moment, he began to doubt his own judgment. Could they really not be trying to manipulate his funds?
This also meant the end of the collaboration between Romeo’s company and Duncan Group. After hanging up the phone, Romeo went to Patrick’s office.
“Mr. Pansy.”
Romeo entered the office with a somewhat dejected expression. Patrick immediately knew what had happened.
“Did it fail?”
He raised an eyebrow. It seemed that Kevin still had some wits about him and wasn’t easily deceived.
“Yes.” Romeo nodded. He never expected Kevin to realize it so quickly. “He took back all the funds. To avoid raising suspicion, I returned them to him honestly.”
Patrick nodded. It seemed that Romeo still had some cleverness in him.
“Don’t blame yourself. Kevin is a cautious person who never does anything detrimental to his own interests.”
Patrick had already expected this outcome, considering he knew Kevin’s character quite well.
“It’s a shame about the money. If we had managed to swindle it all, Kevin would have been finished.”
Romeo felt regretful, but Patrick smiled and raised his mouth slightly. “It’s okay. This approach didn’t work, so we’ll try another method.”
Seeing Patrick’s expression, Romeo nodded. It seemed that Patrick had his own way of handling things.