“All right, all right.
I understand.”
Claire nodded into the phone before ending the call.
She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and turned toward Ethan, her beautiful eyes filled with complicated emotions.
“Well?
Was my fortune-telling accurate?” Ethan asked with a smile.
“Ethan, how did you know all of that?” Claire asked, approaching him with a puzzled frown.
The Bennett family’s business dealings were highly confidential, especially the details of major contracts.
Even some members of the family might not have access to such sensitive information.
Yet Ethan had identified problems with a critical agreement almost immediately.
How could she possibly explain that?
“Didn’t I already tell you?
I’m a fortune teller.”
Ethan spread his hands innocently.
“Fortune-telling…”
Claire still found it difficult to believe.
Even if fortune-telling could predict when someone might encounter misfortune, surely it couldn’t reveal the exact nature of the disaster, let alone identify specific loopholes in a business contract!
Yet Ethan had done precisely that.
“Ethan, on behalf of the entire Bennett family, I sincerely thank you!” Claire said earnestly.
“My father just called me back.
They examined the contract again and found six loopholes!”
She took a breath before continuing.
“Fortunately, we discovered them in time.
Otherwise, once the family invested more money into the project, those loopholes could have caused enormous losses.
So, on behalf of the Bennett family, I…”
Claire’s words trailed off as Ethan raised a hand to interrupt her.
“Six loopholes?”
A flicker of surprise crossed his face.
“Excuse me, but I counted ten.”
Ten loopholes!
Everyone nearby stared at him in astonishment.
“Ten?!”
Claire’s expression changed dramatically.
She immediately pulled out her phone and called her father again.
“Ten loopholes?”
Over at the Bennett family estate, Richard’s expression darkened as soon as he heard the news.
They had already reviewed the contract carefully and discovered six loopholes.
Yet four more had escaped their attention!
If word of this reached the outside world, the Bennett family would become a laughingstock.
How could their legal team have overlooked so many serious problems in an agreement of this importance?
“Ethan says there are four more,” Claire explained urgently.
Richard’s face grew even more serious.
At that moment, Ethan’s voice came through the phone.
“Tell your father to check page ten, line twenty-six.
Then page thirteen, line fifty-seven.
Page sixteen, line thirty-eight, and page thirty-one, line two.”
Claire repeated each location as quickly and accurately as she could.
Richard immediately picked up the contract and followed her instructions, turning to the specified pages while the two family members assisting him examined the relevant passages.
“Mr.
Bennett, there’s a character error here!”
“That’s careless drafting.
Two characters in this sentence are wrong, and the meaning changes completely if the agreement is interpreted in court!”
“And this clause on page thirty-one is definitely a loophole.
If there’s a legal dispute, the ruling could favor the Whitmore family!”
The two people responsible for reviewing the agreement were sweating profusely.
It was horrifying.
They had already conducted a thorough review, yet four more loopholes had slipped past them.
The Whitmore family had clearly put considerable effort into constructing this trap.
Fortunately, the real estate project was still in its early stages, and the Bennett family hadn’t invested a substantial amount of capital.
Otherwise, even if they discovered the loopholes later, withdrawing from the project might not be so simple.
They could find themselves trapped in an agreement that allowed the Whitmore family to exploit them at every turn.
The more Richard considered the implications, the more alarming the situation became.
He had nearly allowed the family to walk straight into a financial disaster under his own watch.
As the head of the Bennett family, he would undoubtedly have to answer for it.
Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to remain calm.
“Claire, tell me how you learned about these loopholes.
Did someone from the Whitmore family tell you?”
“Dad, no one from the Whitmore family told me anything.
It was a former classmate of mine.
He can tell fortunes.”
This time, Claire didn’t conceal the truth.
Now that Ethan’s predictions had been verified, there was little point in keeping his involvement a secret.
“Fortune-telling?”
Richard paused, momentarily stunned.
His brows drew together.
“You’re telling me that your classmate predicted there were ten loopholes in the contract?
How did he know they existed, and how could he identify their exact locations?”
“Dad, I honestly don’t know how he did it, either.”
Claire was just as curious as he was.
But Ethan had insisted that it was fortune-telling.
What explanation could she possibly offer?
Richard fell silent for a moment before speaking again.
“All right.
Whether your classmate is genuinely capable of fortune-telling or has access to information we don’t know about, he has helped the Bennett family avert a serious crisis.
Anyone willing to help us deserves to be treated as a friend.”
His voice became solemn.
“Thank him properly on my behalf.
Once I’ve dealt with this matter, I’ll visit him personally and express my gratitude.”
“Understood, Dad.”
After ending the call, Claire looked at Ethan with even more complicated emotions than before.
Ethan simply raised his glass.
“There’s no need to thank me.
We’re old classmates.
Helping you out was nothing.”
He took a leisurely sip of wine, behaving as though he had done nothing particularly remarkable.
Claire studied him for another moment before picking up an empty glass and filling it with red wine.
“Then let me offer you a toast!”
She clinked her glass against his and promptly drained it in one go.
“Claire!
What are you doing?”
“Didn’t you say you couldn’t drink?”
“Slow down!
You can’t just gulp down an entire glass like that!”
Several female classmates hurried to stop her, knowing that Claire rarely touched alcohol.
Even when meeting important business figures, she usually declined to drink.
But today was different.
Ethan had helped the Bennett family avoid a potentially devastating business trap.
A simple verbal thank-you didn’t seem nearly enough to express her gratitude, so she had chosen to show her sincerity with a toast.
By the time she finished, not a drop remained in her glass.
A faint blush had spread across her cheeks.
“We’re old classmates.
There’s no need to be so formal,” Ethan said with a smile.
“But since you’ve toasted me, I have to return the favor.”
He raised his own glass and finished the remaining wine.
Claire then turned toward Mason.
“Give me your seat.”
Mason immediately moved aside, allowing her to sit directly beside Ethan.
“Ethan, where did you learn fortune-telling?
Why are you so different from those fortune-telling masters?”
“Of course I’m different.” Ethan smiled mysteriously.
“I started learning when I was a child.
I must have been about five when I happened to meet an old man on the street…”
Having anticipated questions like this, Ethan launched into a carefully prepared story about his supposed introduction to the mysterious art of fortune-telling.
Naturally, the details became more elaborate as he went along.
The surrounding classmates listened with strange expressions, exchanging knowing smiles as they watched Claire sit beside Ethan and question him with such interest.
Everyone could see that she was treating him differently now.
Everyone, that is, except the one person who most desperately wished otherwise.
Adrian Cross had initially been shocked by Ethan’s ability to identify the hidden loopholes in the Bennett family’s contract.
But seeing Claire take the initiative to sit beside Ethan and chat with him so intimately sent a fresh wave of bitterness through his heart.
An inexplicable anger rose within him.
“Ethan!”
Adrian deliberately raised his voice, cutting through the conversation.
The room fell quiet as everyone turned toward him.
Adrian suppressed his irritation and forced a friendly smile onto his face.
“You’ve told fortunes for practically all our old classmates.
How about you tell mine, too?”
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