Too Late to Hold Me Back novel Chapter 1070

"I'll give you all the details when we get home.

All hundred-plus crates belong to us. Feel free to browse."

Mira told the shocked older woman.

"O-Over a hundred crates? Mira, are you trying to launch a luxury jewelry empire?"

Eleanor's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Now that you mention it, starting a high-end jewelry brand doesn't sound like a bad idea."

Owen already owned a premium chain called Serendipity Jewels, recently rebranded to Everlasting Bond Jewels in honor of their relationship.

Perhaps she could propose a partnership. She could inject the flawless emeralds for a clean fifty-percent equity split.

Even though they were madly in love, Mira was fiercely independent and kept her financial portfolio strictly separated from his.

Life was incredibly long; who could predict what the future held?

If things ever went south and they parted ways, a clean corporate boundary would prevent messy, drawn-out financial disputes.

"Mira, even if you don't open a boutique, hoarding these as hard assets is brilliant. With this kind of inventory, you'll never have to worry about collateral again."

Eleanor offered her seasoned advice.

"You've got a deal. I'll listen to you, Grandma."

On the luxurious ride back to the estate, Mira laid out the entire story of how she had seized the emeralds and revealed her plan to distribute them among the tactical teams.

"You seriously intend to give away something this outrageously valuable?"

"Grandma, it's for the armed tactical forces."

As for Mr. Doyle, Hank Whitlock, and the independent contractors, they operated under official government retainer. The state had already wired them massive payouts, so Mira saw no need to double-dip with priceless gems.

Especially Hank. Mishka's lethal attention was originally drawn in by his reckless moves, so he carried a massive share of the blame anyway.

"How many operators are we talking about?"

A single-carat variance in stones of this caliber translates to hundreds of thousands of dollars in difference.

If they compare stones and spot discrepancies, you'll ignite a firestorm of resentment.

Your grand gesture of goodwill will instantly mutate into a bitter disaster.

And let's be real—no two raw gems in the universe are perfectly identical, let alone several hundred of them cut into completely different shapes."

Third, if you're not going into retail, lock the bulk of these in an impregnable underground vault.

Only take a tiny fraction back to the estate. If word gets out you're sitting on a mountain of emeralds, you'll have every thief in the city breathing down your neck.

"I hear you, Grandma. Your instincts are razor-sharp as always; I was looking at this way too simply.

Since standardizing the gems is impossible, I'll scrap the emerald idea. I might as well just give them the cartel gold bars instead. If one isn't enough, I'll drop two or three bars into every operator's lap.

It's universally fair and liquid."

The gold bricks extracted from the Balkan Underworld were heavy, high-purity bullion, each currently trading around a hundred thousand dollars. Tossing two bricks per soldier equated to a solid two-hundred-thousand-dollar bonus.