Chapter 113 A Crumbling Legacy
Henry reached out to touch Nolan’s forehead, but Nolan slapped his hand away.
“What? Can’t I check? Your germophobia really hasn’t changed.”
Germophobia?
Eliza glanced at Nolan.
These past few days… she hadn’t noticed anything of the sort.
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“I came over today to tell you guys something huge! Elizze, you’re definitely gonna want to hear this.”
Hearing Henry call her Elizze, Nolan’s brows furrowed slightly.
Eliza didn’t think anything of it.
She poured Henry a glass of water and sat down on the couch beside him. “What is it?”
“The Holt family. Something happened!”
At the mention of the Holt family, Eliza’s gaze darkened.
Henry continued, “I overheard my parents talking. The Holt family’s stock price has been plummeting. They’re out looking for investors everywhere. My parents said that at this rate, in two or three more months, they’ll collapse completely. They’re headed for bankruptcy. Once that happens, Westbrook’s power balance is getting a total reset.”
Then Henry paused and said curiously, “The Holt family’s a pretty major household. How could they not even survive a flu outbreak?”
Eliza replied flatly, “Because their problems go way deeper than that.”
Henry frowned. “What else? Wait–how do you know?”
Faced with Henry’s confusion, Eliza simply took a sip of water and said vaguely, “Just a guess.”
“A guess?”
“How else could things fall apart so fast?”
“True.”
Henry nodded in agreement. “That’s rough. My parents also said that with the Holt family in this state, no one’s going to lend them money. Bankruptcy’s basically guaranteed. Good thing you broke off the engagement with them. Otherwise, who knows what kind of life you’d be living now.”
Eliza thought of Zayden and Naomi’s engagement.
Now that Zayden had gotten his way and proposed to Naomi, and with the Holt family in freefall, Grace was probably desperate to speed things along.
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She’d likely push for a formal proposal soon, try to lock in the marriage quickly, then plan a wedding right after graduation.
As for the legal marriage certificate? That could wait. As long as the Holts tied themselves to the Rivers family, the Rivers wouldn’t be able to back out even if they wanted to.
Grace had always used tricks like these. Eliza knew them all by heart.
But this time, the Holts were barking up the wrong tree.
The flu outbreak had hit the Rivers family hard, too.
Right now, they could barely keep themselves afloat–how were they supposed to help the Holts?
Just thinking about the Holts getting rejected at the door made Eliza want to laugh.
She could hardly wait to watch both families turn on each other.
At that moment, Eliza looked up–and met Nolan’s eyes.
As soon as she saw him, she instinctively lowered her gaze.
Henry said, “I’ve already told my friends to pass it on to their parents–if the Holt family comes knocking for money, don’t lend a single cent. Their credit’s so bad now they probably can’t even get a loan from a bank.”
This flu had taken down a lot of businesses. Westbrook was in for a serious shake–up this year.
Everyone was just trying to survive. Who had time to worry about someone else?
“Elizze, you think I did good, right? That’s what real friendship looks like.”
“Very good.”
“You know it.”
Henry and Eliza chatted happily.
Nolan sat off to the side, quietly watching, until he suddenly asked,
“You’ve been here a while. Aren’t your parents going to ask where you are?”
Only then did Henry realize how long he’d been out.
He patted Eliza’s shoulder. “All the stuff I brought is here. If you need anything, call me–don’t be shy. And seriously, stop randomly sending me money.”
With that, he gathered his people and left.
Eliza was about to walk him to the door, but Nolan caught her by the arm.
She turned and saw Nolan’s deepening expression.
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So she only gave Henry a small wave goodbye.
“What’s wrong with you?”
Eliza looked at Nolan, puzzled.
He’d been in a bad mood since earlier.
Normally, he’d be happy to see Henry drop by.
“He called you Elizze?”
“Yeah.”
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Eliza nodded. “Henry said calling me Eliza felt too formal, so now he calls me Elizze. When we were little…”
She almost said, Zayden used to call me that too.
But just before the words came out, she shut her mouth.
Zayden calling her Elizze had been years ago.
She remembered that for a short time, their relationship had been decent–during the half month when Naomi and their parents were abroad.
But after Naomi came back, everything returned to how it used to be.
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