Chapter 273: Bad Neighbor
Chapter 273: Bad Neighbor
Drew wandered around checking on the party preparations. After a while, she realized Aniston had disappeared and casually stopped a waiter.
“Where’s Aniston?”
The waiter carrying a tray thought for a moment before replying, “Miss Aniston seemed to be looking for Mr. Williams and Miss Kidman earlier, but she couldn’t find them inside the villa. I saw her go outside.”
“Oh, go back to work then.”
Drew nodded. After the waiter left, the girl’s eyes rolled mischievously. She walked to the entrance of the studio and pressed the button beside the door.
A moment later, Eric’s voice came through.
“Who is it?”
“Eric, it’s Jennie. Open the door.”
Drew pinched her throat and imitated Aniston’s voice.
Inside the studio, Nicole—who had been kneeling before the man with her head lowered—suddenly lifted her head in panic upon hearing the voice and stared helplessly at Eric. Eric had also been startled by the sudden voice. Under the shock, he immediately lost control and spilled everything onto the woman’s face.
A moment later, after taking a deep breath, Eric finally reacted.
Aniston and Drew’s voices were completely different, so the little girl’s imitation sounded nothing alike.
Giving the thoroughly disheveled Nicole a reassuring look, Eric handed her the tissue box on the desk before directly picking up the intercom microphone.
“Drew, stop messing around.”
Leaning outside the door, the little girl burst into giggles.
“Eric, don’t tell me I scared you into… you know?”
Eric merely snorted coldly without answering. Drew acted as though she had not heard him and continued cheerfully, “Just reminding you, Fatty is searching everywhere for the two of you.”
After saying that, Drew directly cut off the communication.
Eric put down the microphone and pointed toward the bathroom door.
“Go take a shower. Go out a bit later and just say you were reading here. I’ll leave first.”
Nicole nodded. Eric tidied himself up briefly before quickly leaving the studio.
…
After hurriedly showering in his bedroom and changing clothes, Eric walked outside the villa. After searching for quite a while, he finally spotted Aniston sitting on a bench beside the tennis court.
Seeing Eric approaching alone, the originally gloomy Aniston finally showed an expression of relief.
Although he felt a bit guilty, Eric still found an excuse about having gone out briefly and brushed the matter aside. He knew the girl definitely would not want to hear the truth, and he naturally was not foolish enough to tell it.
As night fell, the party officially began.
Drew had organized the guest list herself. Eric had been too lazy to interfere. Besides many people Eric knew well, there were also the nearby neighbors around Malibu Point invited as a matter of courtesy, plus the guests’ dates. Altogether, there were close to two hundred people.
At this moment, Eric was dealing with a “bad neighbor.”
The reason he had already labeled the man this way upon first meeting him was because the fellow was truly unlikeable. The moment they met, he directly offered to buy Eric’s estate.
“Eric, thirty-five million. How about thirty-five million? Sell this estate to me. I guarantee full payment in one lump sum.”
Faced with Eric’s refusal, the middle-aged man with the full beard raised the price again.
Eric said helplessly, “Mr. Ellison, I’ve already said many times that I absolutely will not sell this estate.”
“Thirty-seven million. That’s already ten million more than the total construction cost of your estate. Eric, think about it again.”
Larry Ellison persistently raised the offer again, his expression carrying a fervent determination to obtain it no matter what.
Ever since seeing the information about “City of Freedom” in the newspapers, Larry Ellison—naturally extravagant and fond of collecting luxury estates—had immediately fallen in love with the kingly aura of City of Freedom perched on the cliffside. In comparison, he felt the various mansions he had previously purchased throughout Malibu now made him want to demolish them outright.
Arrogant and self-important, Larry Ellison believed only someone like him deserved to own such a mansion.
Thus, after receiving the invitation as a “neighbor,” Larry Ellison had immediately latched onto Eric upon arriving at the estate, continuously raising the price from twenty-seven million all the way to thirty-seven million dollars.
“How about this instead, Mr. Ellison? You can contact Mr. Frank Gehry. I can authorize you to use this mansion’s design plans for free, and you can build another one somewhere else.”
Larry Ellison immediately shook his head.
“A mansion like this naturally has to be one of a kind. Besides, where else could compare to Malibu Point’s location? God, how did I never think of it before? I should have bought this place much earlier. Eric, how about this? I currently own sixteen luxury mansions in Malibu. I’ll trade all of them for this estate. What do you think?”
Eric opened his mouth in surprise.
Given Larry Ellison’s identity as the CEO of Oracle, none of those mansions would be worth less than a million dollars. Altogether, the sixteen estates were probably worth forty to fifty million.
Even so, Eric still shook his head without hesitation.
“Mr. Ellison, no matter what happens today, I will not sell this estate. So please stop discussing this matter, alright? Also, I need to attend to other guests now. Excuse me.”
Seeing Eric impatiently trying to leave, Larry Ellison could only say, “Then, Eric, whenever you ever decide to sell, please contact me first.”
“Alright, I promise. If I ever have the thought of selling, I’ll definitely contact you first, Mr. Ellison.”
After tossing out those words, Eric walked toward Robert Shaye, who was standing nearby with an Asian man around fifty years old beside him.
“Hi, Eric. This place is absolutely incredible. Even I’m tempted,” Robert Shaye said with a laugh as he hugged Eric.
After letting go of Robert Shaye, Eric said, “Larry Ellison from Oracle has already pestered me for more than ten minutes. Robert, don’t tell me you want to buy this estate too. If you dare bring it up, I’ll dare call security to throw you out immediately.”
Robert Shaye laughed loudly.
“Of course not. How could I possibly be that tactless? Oh right, let me introduce someone. This is Mr. Raymond Chow from Hong Kong across the Pacific.”
In truth, Eric had already recognized the man. Although Raymond Chow looked somewhat younger than Eric remembered from media reports in his previous life, there was not much difference otherwise.
“Hello, Mr. Chow. I’m Eric Williams.”