True, Caledon acknowledged to himself that his fiancée was indeed remarkably…
substantial.
Even he sometimes found himself tempted to, shall we say, appreciate her physical attributes.
But she was his legal fiancée, after all.
What exactly was he witnessing right now?
“Mr.
Hockley, there you are!” Luca showed not the slightest embarrassment at Caledon’s green-tinged countenance.
Instead, he greeted him warmly, as if nothing were amiss.
Heaven as his witness, he harbored no desire to decorate anyone’s forehead with hats of any color.
If blame must be assigned, it fell entirely on the naive girl’s excessive enthusiasm.
His conscience remained perfectly clear.
A man of his upright character would naturally never engage in anything improper.
Caledon had been prepared to demand explanations about Rose and Quinn’s relationship, but Luca’s utter lack of guile gave him pause.
Had he misread the situation?
Surely Rose had simply been giving the man a neck massage, yes?
He must be overwrought with suspicion.
Mr.
Quinn seemed entirely respectable.
Besides, Asians were famously circumspect about relations between men and women.
As an exemplary secondary male lead, Caledon possessed considerable tolerance regarding Rose’s behavior.
In the original narrative, even when Rose and Jack were practically inseparable, he’d managed to maintain his composure and pretend ignorance.
It was only when Rose deliberately left Jack’s erotic sketch of her on the table for Caledon to find, a calculated provocation, that his carefully maintained forbearance finally shattered.
After all, any man has his limits.
Carrying on with another man behind his back was one thing, delivering the evidence directly to his hands was quite another.
That was simply murder.
So when Luca addressed him with such righteous composure, Caledon concluded he must have imagined any impropriety.
“Mr.
Quinn, you mentioned that Prince Chun’s chief financial officer awaits your arrival in New York.” “Might I inquire about your investment plans for this visit?” Caledon had two reasons for asking, the substantial funds involved, and the genuinely convincing expertise Luca had demonstrated.
A century’s worth of future knowledge, even if he couldn’t articulate specific details, proved more than sufficient for bluffing about general directions.
Even more compelling was Luca’s claim that Prince’s American financial controller waited at New York harbor.
Upon the ship’s docking, he would oversee the investment of Prince’s assets, totaling an astonishing two million pounds!
With such staggering wealth at stake, even a titan of industry like Caledon found himself speaking with considerably more deference.
As for the possibility of fraud?
The ship would reach New York in seven or eight days at most.
What confidence trickster would weave such an elaborate tale with nowhere to flee?
For the sake of two million pounds, Caledon decided to reinterpret the scene he’d witnessed as nothing more than an innocent head massage.
“After two days of consideration, I believe our primary investments should focus on railways and motion pictures.” Luca produced a so-called planning document, flipping through it as he spoke.
Nobody present could read a single character of his writing.
They could only stare at the incomprehensible script with varying degrees of fascination.
“Motion pictures?
Quinn, you’re planning to invest in movies?” Before Caledon could respond, Rose’s eyes lit up with sudden excitement.
Motion pictures remained a fledgling industry this year, barely forty years since their invention, unquestionably a sunrise sector poised for explosive growth.
Moreover, the current film industry maintained a certain dignity.
Movie stars were essentially respectable public figures, with few of the sordid behind-the-scenes dealings that would later plague the business.
Actresses commanded genuine admiration from thousands, even when their private lives grew chaotic, they never descended to the unspeakable filth of future generations.
For someone like Rose… the prospect of making movies represented something thrilling beyond measure.
“That’s the general plan.” Truth be told, if his mission weren’t to blow up the Titanic, he might genuinely consider heading to Hollywood to produce some films.
“Wonderful!
Why not let me be the heroine?
I’m certain I could do it!” Rose beamed at him, then subtly turned to better display her…
attributes.
Speaking objectively, while Rose’s waist might be slightly fuller than the wasp-thin standards of later eras, she possessed compensating advantages that were impossible to ignore.
Luca found his thoughts wandering, just a little.
With over a century of advanced knowledge and familiarity with countless classic films, he could easily ascend to the position of Hollywood godfather.
At that point, rotating through various leading actresses would become simply…
part of the job description.
Perhaps even switch things up with leading men when actresses grew tiresome.
No, no… he was a decent person.
He absolutely couldn’t entertain such impure thoughts.
“Ahem.
Well, Mr.
Quinn, might you be interested in learning about steel?” Caledon had grown largely immune to his fiancée’s antics by now.
Having such a fiancée, he could only reflect that he’d been blinded by her bewitching appearance and…
other attributes when he’d proposed.
She behaved nothing like a proper noble lady.
“Steel?
The industry appears healthy now, but I find its potential limited.
Significant risk of collapse within twenty years.” Luca shook his head.
He recalled that this very Caledon would apparently jump to his death during an economic crisis a decade or so hence.
Given the man’s relative respectfulness over the past two days, Luca felt inclined to offer some warning, call it settling his bill.
“Mr.
Quinn, the Hockley Group is currently developing new steel alloys.
Believe me, successful development will spark a new revolution in the industry.” “Invest now, and you’ll see at least triple, no, quintuple returns!” Caledon found Luca’s prediction of steel market collapse within twenty years utterly unbelievable.
But he desperately needed fresh investment, the Hockley Group’s research had reached a critical juncture.
Every technological innovation demanded enormous funding.
Even a steel industry giant like Hockley Group found itself strained by astronomical research and development costs.
Initially, Caledon had resigned himself to abandoning the research.
But encountering a wealthy financier aboard the ship seemed too fortunate an opportunity to waste.
“Mr.
Hockley, I genuinely believe the steel industry has entered an inflationary phase.
Investing in steel would certainly be—” Luca was mid-sentence, preparing to dismiss Caledon politely, when the words caught in his throat.
“Mr.
Hockley, that steel technology innovation you mentioned earlier, it sounds quite promising.” “I’d like to hear more details.”