Chapter 65: Chapter 65: The Wager

“There’s no rush,” Lynn Jennings said.

Jessie Sterling couldn’t help but glance at the person beside her, but Lynn Jennings said nothing more, and Jessie couldn’t read anything from her expression.

Jessie Sterling hadn’t expected to run into Brianna Hudson and Cheryl Stuart in the lobby right after she and Lynn Jennings had gotten their hair done.

“Jessie Sterling, I heard you’re getting married? And to someone so far away in Aethelburg?” This time, Brianna Hudson didn’t pick a fight directly with Lynn Jennings, turning to Jessie instead.

Jessie Sterling nodded. “Is Aethelburg that far? I thought with a private jet, it’s only a two-hour flight. I could wake up in the morning, fly back to Southaven for lunch, and be back by evening.”

The moment she said that, the color drained from Brianna Hudson’s face, while Lynn Jennings, standing to the side, let out a laugh without a shred of courtesy.

Only Cheryl Stuart, standing nearby, seemed a little out of it, not understanding what was happening.

“I seem to recall Brianna doesn’t have a private jet, does she?” Lynn Jennings chimed in. “At her birthday party last year, didn’t she say her daddy was going to buy her a plane and that we’d all party on it? But in the end, if I remember correctly, Brianna, your party was on your older brother’s yacht, wasn’t it?”

Brianna Hudson clutched her diamond handbag, her freshly done manicure looking like it was about to snap from the force.

Last year, she had begged for ages before finally getting her daddy to agree to buy a private jet. But at the last minute, her older brother offered to lend her his yacht for the party. He’d argued that the family already owned a private jet, so it wasn’t like she couldn’t fly wherever she wanted. Since she usually just stayed in Port Caldoria and Southaven to have tea and shop with her friends, she rarely needed a plane, and a sports car would be more practical.

Her daddy had always valued her older brother’s opinion, and his words directly convinced him to get her a supercar for her birthday instead.

Brianna had already spread the news about hosting a party on her own plane at her tea parties with friends, only to be utterly humiliated in the end.

Anyone who knew about it didn’t dare bring it up in front of her.

But now, Jessie Sterling and Lynn Jennings were bringing up private jets without any tact. Brianna Hudson took a deep breath, suppressing her irritation.

“Flying on a private jet is tiring anyway. I think it’s better to just stay in Southaven and Port Caldoria; the drive is quick! Besides, our local customs are similar. Marrying someone from out of town can be rather inconvenient.” Brianna Hudson maintained the smile on her face as she spoke. “I hear the Morgan family is very strict. You’d better be careful, Jessie. Your in-laws might not even let you go out and show your face in public.”

Jessie Sterling gave a faint smile, but her eyes, fixed on Brianna Hudson, held no mirth. “You have quite the imagination. It seems Mrs. Hudson used to keep you cooped up at home. Is that because your family is the one with the strict rules?”

Everyone in their circle knew the Hudson family was full of messy affairs. Most families wouldn’t want their daughters getting mixed up with them, lest they get tainted by the drama.

“Forget it, I can’t be bothered to argue with you. I’m just asking if you want to go horse racing. I figure since you’re getting married, you might not get another chance to ride. Lynn Jennings, are you in?” Brianna Hudson asked directly.

Jessie Sterling was now even more certain that their meeting wasn’t a coincidence. She suspected Brianna Hudson had been waiting in the lobby for her and Lynn Jennings.

She had just gotten her hair done; now she just wanted to find a movie theater to relax in.

Seeing Jessie’s hesitation, Brianna Hudson raised an eyebrow. “Jessie, don’t tell me you think your in-laws’ rules are so strict that you’re already preparing to become a shut-in?”

“Did I say I wasn’t going?” Jessie shot back.

She glared, looking like a kitten raising its pudgy, pink-padded paws to threaten someone, completely unaware that her ferocity was just adorable and held no real intimidating power whatsoever.

Lynn Jennings was the first who couldn’t stand to watch anymore. She placed a hand on Jessie Sterling’s shoulder and pulled the little kitten, who was still waving her pudgy paws, behind her.

Lynn Jennings looked calmly at Brianna Hudson. “Just horse racing?”

Seeing Jessie give in, Brianna’s expression immediately turned into a wide grin. “Just horse racing is boring. There has to be a stake, right?”

Lynn Jennings’s expression didn’t change. “Oh? It seems you’ve already thought of a stake.”

“Essence is yours, right?” Brianna Hudson said, looking at Jessie Sterling. “If you lose, give Essence to me. I won’t let you take a loss; how about I buy it from you at market price?”

Essence was a restaurant chain in Southaven with locations in high-end office buildings. It had about three or four branches in the city.

It was a coming-of-age gift from Seth Sterling, who had felt he owed her something after it was decided she wouldn’t be taking over the family’s banking business.

Though it was just a small chain with four locations, the fact that it could open in Southaven’s high-end office buildings was enough to show how extraordinary it was.

While the prices were on the higher side, they were still affordable for most senior white-collar workers, not so expensive that they could only be an occasional treat.

Its locations were the absolute crème de la crème of office buildings.

VIPs of the restaurant could even order their meals in advance, a privilege that alone was enough to make many people envious.

The business had originally belonged to Seth Sterling. Logically, the restaurant would have been more useful in the hands of whichever child inherited the family’s main enterprise.

After all, as things stood, Jessie Sterling didn’t even work at the corporate group and had no need to eat out for lunch. With Essence in her possession, she had barely even set foot inside it more than a few times.

If the restaurant were in Quincy Sterling’s hands, he could order any food he wanted, even while at work.

However, Seth Sterling favored his eldest daughter and had transferred Essence to Jessie Sterling’s name long ago.

When Jessie Sterling heard this, a glint appeared in her eyes. She didn’t rush to refuse. Instead, she looked at Brianna Hudson. “And if you lose? What’s your stake?”

“How could I lose?” Brianna Hudson blurted out subconsciously. Then, seeing Jessie Sterling’s gaze still fixed on her, she pursed her lips. “If I lose, you can pick any of the sports cars I own.”

Jessie Sterling laughed. “I’m not short on cars.”

She didn’t drive much on a daily basis, and the cars her family had prepared for her were more than enough. Besides, the last time she was at the courtyard house, Jessie had seen the garage full of sports cars that Victor Morgan had prepared for her. Why would she need a second-hand car from Brianna Hudson?

“Then what do you want?”

Jessie Sterling felt Lynn Jennings tugging at the fabric on her lower back. She guessed Lynn hoped she wouldn’t agree to this ridiculous wager.

After all, it was obvious from the start that Brianna Hudson had come prepared today.

’Brianna is planning to marry someone in Southaven, but she has no real business assets here and few resources of her own to leverage. Isn’t she just scheming to get her hands on mine?’

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