Chapter 465
“This is…” This is totally different from what I’d expected, okay?!
Nathan could hardly believe it when he saw the nonchalant look on Elise’s face. Without even bothering about his clegant-looking suit, he quickly walked to the door and craned his neck to look outside. However, there wasn’t a soul to be seen when he looked around. His arms akimbo, he turned around and stood where he was in a daze for a few seconds. Then, he turned back and stood face-to-face with Elise, eyeing her up and down once again with skepticism in his eyes. “You’re A?” he asked.
“Yeah, it’s me.” Elise folded her arms across her chest.
Nathan pulled a long face at once. “Say, even if you didn’t manage to make an appointment with her, you didn’t have to joke with me like this. Don’t tell me you’ve not even met her in person.”
However, Elise asked calmly in reply, “If I’m not A, then what do you think A’s supposed to look like?”
“In any case, she’d never look like you.” Nathan exhaled a deep breath in annoyance. When he turned and saw that Alexander was about to open the bottle of Romanée-Conti, he immediately ran up to the man and stopped him, saying, “Don’t touch it! This bottle’s for A. If you two finish it off, then what am I gonna serve A with when I meet her for real later?”
Just then, however, he heard a lady’s faint and delicate voice speak behind him. “That’s stingy of you, Natty.”
Upon hearing that, Nathan felt like something had exploded inside his head. In an instant, his pupils dilated, and he looked back in disbelief. “How did you know about this nickname?” He looked bemused. “Did A even tell you about that?”
Natty wasn’t Nathan’s actual nickname. It was only a nickname that A gave him without thinking when they were working together back then because she thought Natty sounded similar to his first name. Even though many who had been part of the collaboration were aware of this nickname, no one dared to challenge Nathan’s authority like A did, for he was a big name in the investment community even then. Therefore, he hadn’t heard this nickname for years.
“Jeez, what a bother.” Elise plonked herself down on the sofa. “Seriously, do you need me to reminisce about how we used the situation to our advantage during the first equity hedge battle between you and that self-important father of yours and how we wiped him out and made him lose all his capital?”
Finally, Nathan had no choice but to look Elise in the face. A kept a low profile and was never keen on acquiring fame or wealth, so she would never brag to anyone in great detail about those exhilarating and unrestrained stock wars. Furthermore, no one knew that the person they had jointly defeated at the time was none other than Nathan’s own father.
Nathan’s mother was abandoned by his father before he was born. Not only that, but the man even refused to say goodbye to her for one last time in her dying moments. In order to get back at the man, Nathan amassed his strength until he finally stood in the brokerage firm with dignity and fought him. At first, he thought he had honed his skills enough, but Nathan’s father was more experienced and thus much craftier. Halfway through the scheme, he almost had all his
possessions swallowed up by that so-called father. It was A who had saved the desperate situation for him, allowing him to bring the man down from the top of the financial pyramid.
Therefore, to Nathan, Awasn’t only an idol but also his benefactor. If it weren’t for A, he wouldn’t have been able to avenge his mother and reclaim his dignity.
On the other hand, Elise was running out of patience. “Are you still not gonna believe me?”
“No, I believe you. It’s just that I still have trouble adjusting to that.” Nathan seemed somewhat ill — at case. He continued in self-deprecation, “Perhaps it just never occurred to me that the person who had easily spent more than one billion as she pleased would be a teenage girl.”
Elise had yet to celebrate hier 20th birthday at present, which meant she was only about 13 years old seven years ago. It was truly unimaginable for someone at that age to have a commanding presence in the capital market.
Elise got up, came to Nathan’s side, and gave him a pat of comfort on the arm like a mature and respectable old man. “It’s okay, Natty. You’re still young. As you gain more experience, you’ll find. that there are always people who are better than you in the world.”
Nathan pulled a wry face; he never dreamed that he would be preached to by a 20-year-old lady one day.
aren
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Elise didn’t care much about it, though. After finishing her sentence, she went to the liquor cabinet and picked up the bottle of Romanée-Conti. Then, she opened it right away, pouring the wine into three wine glasses. Picking up two of the glasses, she then turned around and handed one to Nathan.
Alexander picked up the remaining glass of wine and walked over to them, forming a circle with them.
Nathan glanced down at the wine glass with a faint smile. Then, he took the wine glass, clinked glasses with the couple, and finished his wine in one gulp with a toss of his head.
Having finished her glass of wine, Elise licked her lips, seemingly savoring the endless aftertaste that the wine had left in her mouth.
“Pretty nice, isn’t it? I bought it at an auction for two million. There are less than ten bottles of it globally,” Nathan said.
“Yeah, it’s nice indeed.” Elise compressed her lips into a smile. In an instant, she came up with a mischievous idea. Walking back to the liquor cabinet, she brought the entire bottle of Romanée Conti over and filled Nathan’s wine glass with it right away.
“Hey, that’s enough!” Seeing Elise pour wine recklessly into his glass, Nathan immediately held it up, but the glass was already 80% full at that point. He said helplessly, “Elise, you only need to pour a mouthful of the wine into each glass just so we can taste it. It’s not like we’re gonna get drunk.”
Elise crinkled her eyes in a smile. “Well, I was just worried that you couldn’t remember what it tasted like. After all, the bottle will cease to be yours very soon.”
Nathan was puzzled upon hearing her words.
“Didn’t you say you had prepared this bottle of wine for A?” Elise asked shamelessly.
Upon realizing what Elise meant, Nathan panicked at once. I only have a bottle of good wine of such distinction! he thought. “Well, I did say that, but… Good wine is supposed to be shared with everyone!”
“Don’t be so stingy, will you?” Elise shoved him in the chest. “Think about that wretched father or yours and your current standing. Is the huge favor I’ve done for you not worth you giving me a bottle of wine as a present?”
“Well, it’s worth it, but this bottle-”
“That settles it, then!” Elise dashed outside with the wine bottle in her arms without giving Nathan the opportunity to finish his sentence. As she ran, she shouted, “Thanks for the wine! Call me again if you have such a good thing to offer me next time.”
“Hey, wait a minute! Stop!” Nathan yelled. Helplessly, he watched the top-grade wine in his collection being taken away in such an open and aboveboard way. His face crumpled into a look of desolation, and his heart was bleeding.
At the sight of the scene, Alexander couldn’t help bursting into laughter.
Only then did Nathan recall there was another person around. Turning to stare at Alexander, he narrowed his eyes, which flickered with slyness.
“What do you want?” Alexander asked with a straight face. “I’m straight.”
“Bah, who cares about it, anyway?!” Nathan rolled his eyes. “I mean, remember to call me the next time you two are gonna have a drink.”
Alexander replied with a sly smile, “Well, I can call you, but aren’t you gonna give me a bottle of good wine to thank me in advance?”
With a slap on his thigh, Nathan agreed to it without hesitation, saying, “No problem. I still have another bottle of Romanée-Conti at my place, only that it’s not as good as that one. I’ll have it delivered to you later.”
“Thanks.” Alexander gave him a faint smile. Then, he put down his wine glass and walked out with his hands in his pockets.
As Nathan watched Alexander disappear from the door, he suddenly felt that something was amiss. Did I just let them take away two bottles of Romanée-Conti at once? S**t! What a colluding couple!
