Two Reborn, One Throne novel Chapter 48

Lucian could live two lifetimes and never be relatives with Sharif Madison.

They were rivals in love and business. Sharif was the man Lucian had sworn to utterly destroy in this lifetime.

"Ah, I was just curious. I didn't mean anything by it. Don't overthink it, Lucian. I just meant... if Mr. Madison isn't close to Amber, why would he give her a six-figure laptop just for a sponsorship?"

"Aren't you even a little curious, Lucian? The finals are only twenty-six days away, and Madison Group made an exception to sign Amber? Doesn't their sponsorship require you to be ranked first in the grade? Amber is ranked tenth. How did she pull that off? Do you think... she seduced Mr. Madison?"

Lucian: "..."

Lucian had no idea why Sharif had given Amber such an extravagant gift in this timeline. While he suspected Sharif might also be reborn, it wasn't a certainty. Even setting aside Joanne's wild theory, when Sharif had sponsored Lucian in their past life, he had provided him with the absolute best as well.

"Joanne, let's head back to class. It doesn't matter why Sharif gave Amber a six-figure laptop. I'm going to make Amber cry at the Olympiad on Monday. I'll make Sharif regret ever sponsoring her," Lucian said viciously. In this lifetime, Sharif wasn't going to have it easy either.

Seeing Lucian so fired up, Joanne felt reassured. Although she had briefly entertained the wild thought that Lucian might be an illegitimate Madison heir, she didn't let it distract her. She smiled sweetly. "Exactly. You have to win the Olympiad and absolutely crush Amber."

If Lucian actually was a Madison heir, she would be set for life.

No, she had to find an opportunity to verify this. Everyone in the neighborhood claimed Lucian's father had died in a car crash, but Grace hadn't always lived there. If he really was a secret heir, settling for just fifty grand and a scholarship would be a massive loss.

Meanwhile, at the Madison Group.

The reason Sharif had given Amber a six-figure laptop was twofold: one, she was worthy of it, and two... he needed to monitor her!

"Mr. Madison, we've followed your orders. The monitoring software has been installed on the laptop Miss Newman selected. The moment she or whoever is backing her sends a message or does anything suspicious, Charles will package the data and send it directly to your inbox."

Charles was the Chief Technology Officer at Madison Group, responsible for all corporate cybersecurity.

Julian Zeller returned to the office to report. He was supposed to be enjoying a luxurious lunch, but because the private investigator tracked Amber to the Madison Digital Plaza, everything changed.

The moment Sharif found out, he called Julian and ordered him to quietly trace the person pulling Amber's strings. Spying on her phone and laptop was the most efficient method.

"She didn't get suspicious, did she?" Sharif's voice was dangerously low.

He figured that no matter how cunning that little fox was, she wouldn't anticipate that his six-figure gift came with strings attached. And even if she did take it, he wasn't going to let her use it freely.

"No, sir," Julian replied crisply.

Sharif looked up, his gaze silently demanding Julian to rethink his answer.

Julian paused. "...Mr. Madison, Miss Newman genuinely didn't suspect a thing. After I relayed your message, she accepted the laptop decisively, without any hesitation. Oh, by the way, sir, Miss Newman asked me to pass along a message."

Sharif was looking at a document, not meeting Julian's eyes, but he gestured for him to continue.

Julian cleared his throat. "Miss Newman said that for the next five years, her focus will be entirely on her academic work and our projects. She assures you there will absolutely be no teenage dating or high school romances."

Arthur was stunned. "It was free?!"

"Yep! Pretty amazing, right?"

"You're incredible, Amber."

When Arthur finally laid eyes on the laptop, his eyes widened. "Amber, this couldn't have been cheap, could it?"

Arthur might have lived a modest life, but he knew quality when he saw it. At first glance, this machine screamed absolute luxury.

"It definitely wasn't cheap. Six figures."

Arthur nearly collapsed. Amber quickly caught his arm. "Dad, this is just the beginning. We're going to have a lot more expensive things coming into our house soon, so you better brace yourself."

Although Amber had promised she would make a lot of money for him, Arthur had just treated it like childish daydreaming. But seeing her bring home a six-figure laptop today left him completely dumbfounded. A single laptop worth hundreds of thousands? He truly didn't understand the world of the rich.

"Amber, pack it up quickly. Don't flash your wealth around. You don't want people seeing this, especially Grace. Hurry home, Amber. I'll be back as soon as I finish cleaning up here."

If Grace found out Amber brought home a six-figure laptop, she would definitely force Amber to give it to Lucian, or berate her for not taking Lucian along to enter the giveaway.

His daughter had earned this fair and square; she needed to hide it well.