Rebate King: Every Beauty I Spoil Makes Me a Billionaire

A few days ago, Sarah had turned Liam down flat when he tried to pursue her. She had thought nothing of it at the time, just another entitled young man with a bruised ego.

But seeing him here now, standing casually beside a pack of loan enforcers as if he owned them, there was no mistaking it. He wasn’t just connected to the Wilsons. He was a Wilson.

As if sensing her gaze, Liam stepped inside with an easy smirk. He didn’t so much as glance at Stan, he walked right past him like he was part of the furniture, and stopped in front of Sarah.

”You turned me down without even bothering to ask who my family was,” he said smoothly, the smirk never leaving his face. ”You should’ve known there would be consequences for that.”

Then, as if the next line were an afterthought, he threw a look of open contempt at Stan before turning back to her with a slow, wolfish smile.

”Actually, I’m not really here about the money. Marry me. Become part of the family. I’ll waive the remaining thirty million the day you sign the paperwork.”

The debt was just the lever. The real objective was forcing her hand.

Across the table, Stan was quietly staring at the ceiling in something close to disbelief.

’Dog-shit luck,’ he thought. ’Someone brings water the moment you’re thirsty. Someone brings food the moment you’re hungry. And someone brings a thirty-million-dollar excuse to spend money the exact moment you’re looking for one.’

He almost wanted to laugh.

Sarah, meanwhile, had gone pale and rigid. She knew exactly what kind of man Liam was. She had heard the rumors long before he ever approached her.

He was loose, careless, and kept a revolving door of women on the side. It was the entire reason she had rejected him in the first place. Marrying him wouldn’t just be a compromise. It would be the end of her life as she knew it.

”I’ll find a way to pay back the money,” she said firmly, eyes fixed on the table.

Liam’s smirk hardened.

”Your father is in the hospital. Your mother is in critical condition. How, exactly, are you planning to ’find a way’?” His voice dropped, cold and deliberate. ”I’ll lay it out plainly. Marry me, or pay back the money. Choose.”

Stan cleared his throat. ”Ahem.”

He pushed his chair back and stood up slowly, taking his time. This was the opportunity he had been waiting for. He certainly wasn’t going to let it pass him by. And frankly, being treated like a piece of background scenery by two men threatening the woman he was having dinner with was starting to rub him the wrong way.

”Let’s talk this over calmly,” he said, his voice level. ”There’s no need to make a scene.”

Liam didn’t even bother turning his head.

”Who the hell are you? Did anyone ask you to speak?”

Stan’s jaw tightened.

”I’m Sarah’s friend. Whatever the issue is, you can discuss it with me.”

”Discuss it with you?” Liam let out a short, incredulous laugh. ”Sarah owes my family thirty million dollars. Do you actually have that kind of money?”

”I do,” Stan said evenly. ”I’ll pay her debt for her.”

Liam’s laugh turned into a sneer. ”You??! Pay it back? Don’t make me laugh.”

Thirty million was no small amount. Even to the Wilsons, it was a serious sum. If it could be paid off with a few bold words from a college student, Sarah would have settled it a long time ago.

”It’s just thirty million,” Stan said, shrugging. ”Even if it were a hundred, I could still cover it.”

Sarah’s head snapped up. She grabbed his sleeve, her eyes suddenly wide and alarmed.

”Stan, don’t. You don’t need to get dragged into this, I’ll figure it out myself.”

”It’s not trouble,” Stan said, gently but firmly. ”Anything that can be solved with money isn’t trouble at all.”

He almost wanted to thank Liam personally. He had been sitting there racking his brain for a plausible excuse to throw a massive sum at Sarah, and this arrogant heir had walked in and handed him one gift-wrapped.

[Sarah: Favorability 60]

[Sarah: Favorability 70]

[Sarah: Favorability 80]

The numbers climbed like a fever.

Sarah’s heart was pounding. She was looking at Stan as if seeing him for the first time, as if the polite, quiet classmate she had known for months had suddenly resolved into someone else entirely. Handsome. Wealthy. Principled. Willing to stand up for her in front of a man most people at Peak University wouldn’t dare cross.

’I’ve always thought people like this don’t exist,’ she thought dazedly. ’And yet he’s right here. Sitting across from me.’

Stan turned back to Liam and held out his hand.

”Give me your bank details.”

Liam scoffed, already halfway convinced this was a bluff, but pulled out his phone and rattled off his card number anyway, half out of curiosity, half out of a desire to watch Stan humiliate himself.

A few seconds later, his phone chimed.

[ICBC, Incoming transfer: $30,000,000.00]

Liam stared at the screen. For a full three seconds, his face didn’t move.

”The money’s been delivered,” Stan said, his voice suddenly cold. ”Now get out.”

Liam’s jaw worked silently. Whatever composure he had walked in with had cracked straight down the middle, but he forced it back together through sheer pride, straightened his jacket, and turned toward the door.

”You win this round,” he muttered over his shoulder, and walked out without looking back.

The loan enforcer who had been standing beside him went pale and hurried to catch up, his legs visibly unsteady as he followed his young master out of the restaurant.

[US Construction Bank, Incoming: $150,000,000.00]

A hundred and fifty million dollars.

Stan stared at the notification on his phone, and for the first time all evening, something inside him went very still. His balance had just crossed the nine-figure mark. In the space of a single dinner, he had gone from a college student with a strange system and a growing bank account to, by any reasonable definition of the word, a billionaire in the making.

He exhaled slowly and slipped the phone back into his pocket.

Across the table, Sarah was still sitting exactly where she had been, but the composure she had been holding onto all evening had finally cracked. Her eyes had gone red at the edges, glossy with unshed tears, and her hands were clasped tightly in her lap as if to keep them from trembling.

”Thank you,” she whispered. Her voice wavered on the second word. ”Thank you, Stan. I don’t... I don’t even know how I can ever repay you.”

Stan looked at her for a long moment.

There was something undeniably disarming about Sarah like this, the careful, guarded campus belle stripped down to something softer and more honest. Her cheeks were flushed, her lips slightly parted, her eyes shining up at him with a gratitude so raw it bordered on worship.

His gaze lingered a little longer than it should have.

Sarah noticed. Of course she noticed. And whatever she saw in his expression made the color in her cheeks deepen from a faint pink to something closer to rose.

She lowered her eyes, then glanced up again through her lashes, suddenly shy.

”I mean... isn’t this moving a little fast?” Her voice was barely above a whisper. ”At the very least... shouldn’t we start as boyfriend and girlfriend first?”

Stan’s mouth twitched.

”Are you sure you’re not reading into this a little too much?” he teased gently.

”Ah...!”

Her face went scarlet. She dropped her gaze to the table, suddenly fascinated by the pattern on the porcelain, her fingers twisting together in her lap.

Stan watched her squirm for a moment longer, then leaned forward slightly, resting his forearms on the table.

”But if I asked you out,” he said, his voice softer now, ”would you say no?”

Sarah didn’t look up. But after a beat, she shook her head, small and quick, almost shy enough to miss.