Two Reborn, One Throne novel Chapter 29

Sharif had assumed she was just like the rest of the candidates who had lost their nerve and fled at the last second.

He only looked up to confirm if she was actually still in the room. To his shock, she was—just standing there like a statue. Was she seriously expecting him to roll out the red carpet? She certainly had a lot of nerve.

Hearing his tone, Amber had the overwhelming urge to roll her eyes exactly like she used to when they worked together. But she couldn't. Right now, she was just a desperate student in need of his corporate funding.

She had to play the part of the timid, submissive applicant.

Amber let out a perfectly feigned gasp of surprise. She truly hadn't expected her first encounter with him in this life to be so incredibly awkward. No, she was actually nervous!

If she had known the timer started the second she walked through the door, she wouldn't have just stood there waiting for a cue.

But old habits died hard. Whenever his executive team went silent, it meant he hadn't given the floor to anyone yet. How was she supposed to know she was allowed to speak?

Amber quickly opened the folder she had brought and retrieved the "interview gift" she had meticulously prepared for him.

He clearly had zero patience left. "Are you reading off a cheat sheet?"

His tone was identical to her past life—laced with heavy, unmistakable disdain.

Amber clicked her tongue quietly. Before she could even say *no*, the man continued.

His dark eyes were sharp and unyielding. "I don't care how a tenth-ranked student managed to get a recommendation for this room. But you have exactly three minutes left. Are you absolutely certain you can read through your little script in three minutes?"

Now Amber understood exactly why the previous candidates had been chased out in under sixty seconds.

He was just as merciless as ever.

"Mr. Madison, I apologize," Amber said smoothly. "The question isn't whether I can read it in three minutes. The question is whether you can finish reading it in three minutes."

Amber opened the file and handed her prepared proposal over to him with both hands.

Sharif's handsome brows arched up. Out of all the students he had interviewed today, she was the first to try a completely different angle.

But he didn't reach for it. "What is this? Are you trying to bribe me?" he asked coldly.

The man was silhouetted against the massive, spotless floor-to-ceiling windows behind his desk. No matter where he sat, he radiated the suffocating authority of a king holding court.

"I know exactly how much," Amber said without missing a beat. "And because I know, I dared to make the offer."

"Mr. Madison, to you, awarding me this scholarship means a mere five million dollar investment over my education. But to me, it's different. I am worth far more than five million. I need this scholarship to study abroad and access the technology necessary to develop this project. Madison Group forces its sponsored students to sign a five-year post-grad commitment, but we both know that's not about trapping them. You're a businessman. You care about profit. Every investment carries risk, and that termination clause in your contract is your ultimate fail-safe, isn't it?"

"A billion dollars in three years is just your dividend, Mr. Madison. I'm asking for equity through technical contributions. If you sign me and fund my education, I will make you significantly more than what I'm promising right now."

If Amber hadn't lived this life once already, she probably would have slammed both hands down on his desk to deliver that speech.

She wasn't bluffing. She had the skills to back it up.

In her previous life, she and Lucian had taken countless wrong turns before finally building their empire in their thirties. Now that she was reborn, she naturally knew exactly how to avoid those pitfalls and fast-track her way to the top.

Lucian planned to wait until after finals to start his business. Amber wasn't just going to beat him to the punch; she was going to dominate the market using the very technology and projects she had always wanted to develop in her past life.

She had run the numbers. As long as Sharif signed her, gave her the capital, and funded her education, she would easily hand him a billion dollars within three years. As for whatever else she made on top of that, Sharif didn't need to know, and she certainly wasn't going to tell him.

They had a clear price tag—she needed his money to fund her tech, and he wanted her tech to print money.