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Home / Urban / Contract Over: You're Free to Go / Kabanata 231 - Kabanata 240

Lahat ng Kabanata ng Contract Over: You're Free to Go: Kabanata 231 - Kabanata 240

327 Kabanata

Chapter 231

Making a bold claim was one thing, but picking up the pen to write a complete proposal was another.After returning, disheveled and filthy, from the construction site to his tiny apartment, Silas took a quick shower and glued himself to the laptop he had just equipped with a second-hand graphics card.After he opened a brand-new Word document, the lonely cursor blinked on the blank white page for ten minutes, then for 30.An hour later, the title of the document bore two conspicuous words, "Urban Memories", and that was it.Silas frustratedly grabbed his half-dry hair and took a large gulp from his mug.Over the past ten years, his mind had grown used to thinking in terms of lines, light and shadow, textures, and spatial layouts. Anyone could give him a bare building, and he could build an exquisitely brilliant 3D model in his head with his eyes closed.But right now, having to describe—in terms of words and financial data—how much money a physical space that had yet to exist cou

Chapter 232

"Maybe I'm only fit to draw, Avery. I'm just not cut out for business," Silas said dejectedly.It was the first time since the fire that Silas had shown this kind of exhausted self-doubt.Avery looked at his wretched state, but instead of making fun of him, she simply took off her coat, pulled a chair over, and sat in front of the laptop."Move over." She tilted her head, motioning for Silas to make room.He was briefly stunned before grabbing a small stool to sit beside her."You're right. You're not cut out for business, but you've forgotten what I do for a living."She skillfully closed the essay-like Word document and immediately opened a fresh Excel spreadsheet and a brand-new PowerPoint deck."Back when I was at PrimePrint, I transformed countless designers like you, who only knew how to dream about beauty and aesthetics, into businesses investors fought to invest in. Leave the business side to me."When she turned to him, her eyes suddenly turned sharp and professional l

Chapter 233

Avery turned around to look at the dumbfounded Silas, her lips curling into a proud, sly smile."That's what I call turning space into value. We're going to turn the space you wasted into a money-making machine that draws young creatives across Bellmere through the door. Do you understand now, Mr. Langston?"Sitting on his tiny stool, Silas stared at Avery.They were in a cramped, rented apartment, where the air had the faint greasy smell of their takeout boxes, yet he felt as if something incredibly soft and strong had hit him square in the chest.For the first time, he realized that business and art didn't have to be mortal enemies. And for the first time, he genuinely realized that the woman sitting beside him didn't just have formidable business means, but also a heart that could understand him and was willing to protect his "useless designs" at all costs.She didn't act like Teresa, who looked down on him and bought off his compromise with 30 million dollars. Instead, she s

Chapter 234

At Valence Capital's headquarters, the three-hour Investment Committee meeting had finally ended in the panoramic conference room on the 68th floor. A cleaner wheeled in her cart and began clearing the coffee cups and water bottles scattered across the table.Miranda didn't leave immediately, remaining seated at the head of the long conference table.The PDF still open on her tablet was titled "Urban Memories: Integrated Physical Space Business Plan."The past three hours had been a brutal battle of competing opinions, with several conservative partners raising serious concerns about investing in a capital-intensive physical venue with such a long path to returns.Rather than sink millions into some sentimental design project in the old district, they preferred asset-light tech ventures that could boost their valuations within two or three years before investors cashed out.But Miranda had overruled every objection. Backed by her flawless investment record and veto power, she had

Chapter 235

Miranda handed the signed letter of intent to her assistant, her voice returning to its usual calm. "Process it. I want it in their inbox within ten minutes."…At 2:30 pm, the cramped rental on Brickstone Alley felt suffocatingly tense. Ever since they sent the email three days ago, Silas and Avery had been trapped in an agonizing wait. The dark circles under Avery's eyes were impossible to miss.She sat cross-legged on the hard chair, hugging a pillow and compulsively checking for updates. Every few minutes, she hammered the F5 key to refresh the page.Silas wasn't doing much better. He absentmindedly drew circles across a sheet of scrap paper, the tangled lines looking remarkably like an EKG of his current mental state. "Silas, it's been 72 freaking hours, and they haven't sent back so much as a period. Don't tell me those bloodsuckers decided our project won't make money and killed the deal."Avery raked a frustrated hand through her hair, feeling like the walls were clo

Chapter 236

Silas burst out laughing, the pent-up tension of the past few days finally breaking loose."Hell yes!" Silas immediately raised his hand, and Avery met it with a hard high five.The sharp crack of their palms echoed through the cramped rental, cutting through the smell of instant noodles and musty furniture. For that brief moment, they were simply two partners riding the same rush of victory.They looked at each other and laughed. The usual guardedness in Silas's eyes was gone, his smile open and unrestrained, while Avery's eyes shone with undisguised pride.But just as their hands were about to separate, the easy excitement between them suddenly shifted.The high five had brought them much closer than either had realized. In the tiny apartment, Avery could see the slight movement of Silas's throat as he breathed and catch the clean scent of laundry detergent mixed with instant coffee.Then Silas met her eyes, and the rush of shared victory shifted into something neither of them

Chapter 237

After receiving the eight-million-dollar letter of intent, the atmosphere between Silas and Avery turned strangely awkward.That almost-too-intimate moment in the rental apartment became a secret they silently locked away. Neither mentioned it, nor did either go near it.To bury the inconvenient attraction between them, they both threw themselves into work. The moment the funding was secured, they began an exhausting search for the right location.For the next week, Avery's red car crisscrossed Bellmere's creative districts, older neighborhoods, and commercial complexes.Finding a 5,000-square-foot mixed-use space capable of carrying the spirit of Urban Memories sounded romantic. In practice, it was brutal."This is the 14th place we've looked at."Avery stepped out of a newly completed so-called Instagrammable arts district, her heels coated in dust. She leaned against the car door with a defeated expression, twisted open a bottle of water, and took a long drink."This place wo

Chapter 238

Avery coughed and waved a hand in front of her face. The place really was a wreck.The floor was rough old terrazzo, pitted and uneven. Most of the plaster had fallen away from the walls, exposing dark red brick underneath. Rusted bases from several old textile machines still sat in the middle of the factory.Avery was just about to joke that the place wouldn't even need a set if someone wanted to shoot a horror movie there when she noticed Silas had stopped walking.The early-spring afternoon sun streamed through the row of tall sawtooth skylights overhead. Dust drifted through the beams, catching the light as it fell across the worn brick and oil-stained machinery below.Silas stood quietly in the middle of the factory. He didn't complain about the garbage or the smell of mildew. Instead, he tilted his head back and studied the triangular steel trusses spanning the building.They were the raw bones of another industrial era, something no modern glass facade or trendy drywall t

Chapter 239

Ryan had already warned them that the retired factory manager was notoriously difficult. 15 minutes later, Silas and Avery followed a nervous, sweating Ryan into a rundown residential complex behind the old textile mill.Walter Pierce looked to be in his early 70s. Dressed in a faded blue work jacket, he sat beneath an old tree with a chipped mug in hand while a radio beside him played a serialized drama.He was lean and weathered, but his eyes were remarkably sharp, carrying the authority of a man who had spent half his life keeping a factory floor in line."You want to rent the factory?" Walter barely looked up after Ryan stumbled through his explanation. He leisurely blew across his drink. "Fine. Two million dollars a year, five-year minimum, all paid upfront."Not a single machine gets moved. Don't touch the walls, either, and don't cover the floors with any of that slick tile nonsense. Agree to that, and we'll sign. Otherwise, get lost and let me listen to my show."Ryan ne

Chapter 240

Sensing that Walter was finally listening, Avery pulled a tablet from her bag and opened the high-resolution Urban Memories concept renderings Silas had saved in the cloud.She slid the tablet across the table. "We're not here to tear the place apart. We want to bring out what's already here."Walter clearly had no intention of looking. But the moment the screen caught his eye, he stopped.He slowly put on the reading glasses hanging around his neck and picked up the tablet.There were no glaring neon lights or gimmicky photo walls in the renderings. Silas had preserved the weathered red brick and cleverly repurposed the rusted machine bases as foundations for the coffee bar.The sawtooth skylights had been restored, allowing sunlight to spill across the rough terrazzo floor. This was more than a set of design renderings. It was a heartfelt tribute to the building's industrial past.Walter's rough fingers moved slowly across the screen. As he watched the familiar trusses and wind

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