Chapter 263: 100 Million Dollars Statement
The heavy glass doors of VIP Box Six glided open smoothly, allowing Jake’s group to exit into the private carpeted corridor of the upper deck. Behind them, the lower hall of the mega-yacht was still buzzing like a stirred hornet’s nest. Bidders and high-society elites were huddled in animated groups, their eyes repeatedly darting up toward the elevated VIP suite, desperately trying to catch a glimpse of the individual who had casually dropped nine figures on a single hypercar.
"Look at them down there," Leon chuckled, leaning over the brass railing as they walked toward the private elevator. "Half the room is on their phones right now trying to run background checks on VIP Box Six. By midnight, every financial intelligence agency in Western Europe is going to be trying to figure out who has that kind of disposable liquidity."
"Let them search," Adrian said dryly, adjusting his cuffs. "It keeps them busy."
As they stepped into the elevator, Fancy was still staring at the digital confirmation receipt glowing on Elias’s tablet, her expression a mix of awe and lingering disbelief.
"Jake..." Fancy began, her voice hesitant as she looked up at him. "I know you’re ridiculously wealthy, but... a hundred million dollars? Isn’t that too much for a car?"
Aliya, who was still holding her vlog camera at a low angle, laughed softly. "Fancy, at this point, my brother doesn’t view money the way normal people do. To him, numbers on a terminal are just tokens in a strategy game."
"It’s about asset density," Noah added smoothly, leaning his back against the mirrored wall of the elevator. "A bespoke one-of-one Bugatti like the La Voiture Noire doesn’t depreciate. It’s essentially a mobile, high-yield vault. If anything, Jake just secured eighty percent of the room’s total attention and locked up a historical milestone in one swift move."
Jake remained silent, standing near the front of the elevator doors. His expression was cool, devoid of the excitement or adrenaline that usually accompanied such astronomical purchases. To him, the auction was merely a temporary diversion—a brief pitstop before the real conflict scheduled for next week.
The elevator descended smoothly to the private berth level, where two luxury tenders were waiting to ferry the VIP guests back to the mainland shore.
As the doors slid open, a tall figure stepped out from the shadows near the tender landing, flanked by two thick-necked security guards. It was the young Middle Eastern heir who had spent the entire night dropping reckless jump-bids on the floor.
Noah and Leon instantly stepped forward, their shoulders tensing as they placed themselves between the group and the stranger.
"Easy, guys," Leon muttered, crossing his arms with a slight smirk. "Looks like the rich kid wants round two."
The young heir raised both hands, palm-out, signaling his guards to stay back. The earlier arrogant sneer was gone, replaced by a strangely composed, respectful posture. He looked past Marcus and Adrian, his eyes sweeping over the group.
"Relax, I’m not here to start a fight," the young man said in flawless, accented English. "I just want to know who held the paddle for Box Six. Which one of you blew a hundred million on the La Voiture Noire?"
Without a single second of hesitation, Leon raised a hand and pointed a finger straight at Jake’s chest. "Him. He did it."
Noah snorted, and Aliya choked back a laugh, aiming her vlog camera right at Leon’s betraying gesture.
The young heir blinked, looking Jake up and down. He took in the tailored suit, the total lack of posture adjustments, and the completely unbothered expression. A low, genuine laugh broke from the young man’s lips as he stepped forward, extending a hand.
"I’m Prince Rashid Al-Thani," he said, offering a firm handshake. "Saudi royal family. Honestly, I thought I was going to walk out of here with the crown jewel tonight. My father gave me an eighty-million cap, and I thought no sane human being would push past seventy. You completely shattered my ego back there."
Jake took his hand, giving it a brief, firm shake. "Jake Rivers. And it wasn’t about ego, Prince Rashid. It was just a clean bid."
"Clean?" Rashid chuckled, shaking his head and taking out a card. "You threw a thirty-five million dollar jump-bid! That wasn’t a clean bid, my friend, that was a statement! But I respect it. If you ever find yourself in Riyadh or Jeddah, let me know. I’ll show you a garage collection that might actually give you a challenge."
"I’ll keep that in mind," Jake said, a subtle nod replacing his usual coldness as he accepted the card. "Safe travels back, Rashid."
"Likewise, Jake. Enjoy the Bugatti!" Rashid grinned, stepping aside to let them pass onto the private tender deck.
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Once they reached the mainland dock, Jake turned to Elias, reaching into his coat pocket for his satellite phone. "Have the flight crew prep the jet. We’re flying back to Veyra tonight."
"Wait, wait, wait!" Aliya jumped right in front of him, physically blocking his path while shoving her vlog camera into his face. "Hold on a second! We are ’not’ leaving tonight!"
Jake stopped, frowning slightly. "Aliya, Monday morning is approaching. I have business to handle."
"Monday is two days away!" Aliya whined, swinging her arm around Fancy’s shoulder to pull her into the frame. "You promised me that if I came on this trip, we’d spend the weekend sightseeing in Geneva! Fancy hasn’t even seen the lake properly, and we haven’t checked out the private vault display at the airfield yet! Right, Fancy?"
Fancy blinked, caught off guard, but quickly nodded under Aliya’s intense stare. "Uh, yeah! I mean... I’ve never been to Switzerland before. It would be nice to stay a bit longer..."
"See?!" Aliya crossed her arms triumphantly. "This was the whole point of coming along with you out here! Surely you can spare twenty-four hours in Geneva for your little sister before you go destroy whatever company is on your hit list."
Leon laughed, clapping Jake on the shoulder. "She got you. Besides, the cars are locked up in the private hangar until tomorrow afternoon anyway. We might as well inspect the haul together before the transport planes load them up."
Jake looked at his sister’s stubborn face, then at Fancy’s hopeful expression, and finally let out a short, defeated sigh. "Fine. We leave Saturday night. Not a minute later."
"Yes!" Aliya cheered, giving Fancy a high-five before turning back to her camera. "Victory for the vlog, guys!"
The next morning, under a crisp, clear Swiss sky, the group arrived at the private security hangar adjacent to Geneva International Airport.
Inside the climate-controlled facility, four automotive masterpieces sat parked side-by-side on polished concrete floors under bright halogen spotlights.
There was the raw, aggressive competition red of the Ferrari F40 LM, the silver-blue prototype curve of the Bugatti EB110 Super Sport, the hand-hammered nautical blue perfection of the Rolls-Royce Boat Tail Chassis 01, and, standing at the far end like a shadow given form, the deep sapphire carbon weave of the Bugatti La Voiture Noire.
Fancy stood in front of the Boat Tail, running a finger half an inch above the custom aluminum bodywork without actually touching it. "How much was this one again?"
"Thirty-five million dollars," Leon answered from behind her, holding a cup of black coffee.
"So with the La Voiture Noire at a hundred million..." Fancy paused, doing the mental math in her head before her eyes went wide. "Jake spent a hundred and thirty-five million dollars in one night?!"
"That’s one point three five billion marks," Noah added casually, checking a document on his tablet. "A casual weekend shopping run."
Aliya was practically sprinting around the vehicles with her camera setup, recording macro shots of the gold-rimmed center locks and the exposed carbon weaves. "This video is going to break my channel views. People are going to find out who the buyer was through it!"
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By Saturday afternoon, news of the Grace Heritage auction had broken out of the high-society loop and detonated across global media platforms.
Major broadcast networks and financial news outlets across Veyra, North America, and Europe led their afternoon segments with the historic auction results. Front-page newspaper headlines splashed images of the sapphire Bugatti alongside massive bold numbers: $100,000,000!
"Reports out of Geneva confirm that Lot 08, the ultra-exclusive Bugatti La Voiture Noire, has officially shattered every global record for a private automotive sale," a senior news anchor announced on a widely broadcast market network. "While rumors suggest the winning paddle belonged to a prominent consortium inside VIP Box Six, auction house representatives have refused to disclose the identity of the buyer, citing strict non-disclosure protocols."
Online forums, social media feeds, and comment sections were completely overwhelmed by the news.
"A hundred million dollars for ONE car?! I can’t even afford the down payment on a two-bedroom apartment!" one viral post read, racking up hundreds of thousands of likes within hours.
"Imagine having so much money that you drop nine figures on a Bugatti just because... If I had that kind of cash, I’d buy a private island, pay off all my family’s debt, and never check my bank account again."
"Who was in Box Six?! People are saying it was an Asian sovereign fund, but others are saying it was a tech billionaire from Veyra! Whoever it is, they just flexed on the entire global upper class."
Across living rooms, coffee shops, and office breakrooms worldwide, people spent their Saturday afternoon daydreaming—debating what they would do, buy, or transform in their lives if they possessed even a fraction of the raw, limitless wealth that had just been displayed in a quiet, soundproof glass box above the Geneva harbor.
Unaware of the global frenzy—and entirely unconcerned by it—Jake sat in the quiet lounge of his private hangar, drinking his espresso as the ground crew began rolling the transport containers toward the heavy freight aircraft bound for Veyra.
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