Chapter 196
This Time It's for Real
But this wasn't a small amount of money. Even though Sean Shaw had money, it wouldn't be appropriate for him to lend her such a large sum to tide her over.
After thinking it over, Claire Bennett decided to make use of that long-buried identity.
Back when she was at St. Royal Academy, Claire Bennett had already shown extraordinary talent. She had an account under the alias "Queen," and at the time she had designed quite a bit of jewelry and sold it on an auction website that was well-known in their circle.
It had started as just something she did for fun, but she never expected it to get such a strong response.
Later, she made quite a lot of money through that account. But after she left New York and left the industry, she sealed all of that away with her past.
Now that she was desperately short on money, she thought of that account again.
Claire Bennett logged into the website. Over the past few years, quite a few people had been selling design pieces on it, but everyone still seemed unable to forget a mysterious figure named "Queen."
She even saw, right at the very top in a pinned post, someone asking whether anyone knew Queen's whereabouts and where she was working now.
There were quite a few pinned posts below it too, but no one knew any concrete information.
Claire Bennett curled her lips slightly. She hadn't expected that after so long, so many people still couldn't get over her.
But that worked out perfectly. She believed she could get 5 million very quickly.
Some time ago, Julian Sterling had been giving her gifts, making her feel like she was in the middle of a passionate romance, and that had sparked a lot of inspiration.
Later, her aunt had given her a rough stone. After finishing the design, she used the leftover bits to design a pair of matching rings for a man and a woman, planning to give them to Julian Sterling as a gift after she succeeded in winning him over.
Now there was no use for them anymore, so she could only sell the pair of rings.
Claire Bennett quickly finished editing the post. The title was: "Eternal Love, Matching Couple Rings, Starting Bid 50,000."
The moment the post went up, everyone exploded.
A lot of people flooded into the new post one after another, then looked carefully at the poster's ID again before confirming that it really was Queen, who had disappeared for years, coming back.
The post was quickly pushed into the trending section.
Quite a few people wanted to buy Queen's comeback piece. Her account's private messages also filled with many inquiries, all of which Claire Bennett ignored.
She watched as the auction price for the pair of rings climbed higher and higher.
In the end, even Claire Bennett hadn't expected that the rings, with a starting price of 50,000, would actually sell for 5 million.
The price was so unbelievable that Claire Bennett found it hard to imagine. It was far more profitable than painting murals. Back then, because she wanted to cut off everything connected to the Bennett family, she had never once thought about stepping back into this line of work.
She had really worked for nothing all that time!
Still, she knew it was because she had been absent for so long that it created quite a buzz. With everyone competing against each other, the price had been pushed that artificially high. Under normal circumstances, she might not have been this lucky.
This time, she had luck on her side.
Suddenly, a new-friend notification popped up in her backend messages. It was from the person who had just bought her rings.
Claire Bennett added the person as a friend. The two of them exchanged a simple greeting and agreed that she would ship the rings out within the next two days.
She let out a breath of relief. The issue of money was now solved.
The rings were gone too. Once she fully paid back the money to Julian Sterling, they would probably get divorced, and from then on there would no longer be the slightest connection between them.
...
In the blink of an eye, two days passed.
During that time, Julian Sterling had not contacted Claire Bennett, and Claire Bennett had already packed up all her things. She planned to find a chance to move out in the next couple of days.
Outside the Sterling International president's office.
Marcus Reed stood in front of the door, hesitating to go in. He took a deep breath and only dared to knock on the office door after working up his courage.
The past two days had been very hard for him.
He had no idea what exactly had happened between Julian Sterling and Claire Bennett, but they had actually reached the point of getting divorced, and this time they were seriously doing it!
So the people around Julian Sterling were the ones who suffered, and he was the first to bear the brunt of it, because he had to handle the divorce procedures for Julian Sterling.
"Come in," Julian Sterling's voice sounded from behind the door.
Marcus Reed suppressed all the emotions in his heart, opened the door, and walked in.
Julian Sterling was sitting in the office. Fighting down the panic in his chest, Marcus Reed stepped forward and asked, "Mr. Sterling, someone from Shaw Group is here to discuss cooperation with you. Do you want to meet with him?"
Sterling International conference room.
Sean Shaw sat there somewhat uneasily, looking around the room.
He had no idea why, but coming to Sterling International today to discuss cooperation with Julian Sterling made him inexplicably nervous. Normally he was a very confident person. It was really strange.
That day at Claire Bennett's place, Julian Sterling had suddenly come home. In order not to interrupt the two of them having their own private time together, he had even gone back early without eating.
Hopefully he'll remember that much and make things easier for him later.
Just as Sean Shaw was letting his imagination run wild, the conference room door opened with a click, and two men walked in one after the other.
Walking in front was Julian Sterling in a perfectly tailored suit. He looked cold, aloof, and abstinent. When those icy eyes of his swept over with an indifferent glance, Sean Shaw inexplicably felt flustered.
Marcus Reed followed closely behind Julian Sterling, step for step.
The two of them sat down in front of Sean Shaw.
Sean Shaw lifted a smile and said, "Mr. Sterling, the cooperation between Shaw Group and Sterling Group can be put on track now too, right? My father has handed full responsibility for this matter over to me."
Julian Sterling's deep, chilly eyes fell on Sean Shaw, the corners of his mouth carrying a mocking smile. "Has anyone ever told you, Mr. Shaw, that you're extremely confident?"