Chapter 69: Money Is A Weapon

"I’m so sorry, Ethan," she choked out, fresh tears spilling over her lashes as she dropped her head. "I swear I’ll pay you back every single cent. Even if it takes me ten years, I’ll pay you for the setup. I’m so sorry."

She scrambled off the bench, pulling her hood up to hide her face, and turned to walk away into the dark park.

"Amanda."

My voice cut through the night, cold, steady, and commanding.

She paused in her tracks, her back still turned to me, her shoulders shaking silently under the moonlight.

I didn’t get up from the bench. I just leaned back, looking at her silhouette against the streetlights. "Whose dream is it?" I asked, my voice carrying cleanly across the quiet air. "Yours, or your father’s?"

She didn’t answer, but I saw her tense up.

"It’s not my place to dictate how you live your life," I continued smoothly, dropping my tone into something low and absolute. "But ask yourself this: what do you want for your little sister? Do you want her to grow up watching you suppress who you are just to keep the peace with a bitter old man? Do you want her to learn that giving up on her passion is just what happens when things get hard?"

Amanda slowly turned her head, looking back at me through wet eyes.

"You’re the eldest sister, Amanda," I said, meeting her gaze with zero hesitation. "Lead the way. Be the example. Show her that chasing your dreams isn’t something foolish. Not everyone is meant to rot away in a white-collar office just to make someone else happy. You have S-rank talent, and the only person holding you back right now is you letting him dictate your ceiling."

She stood there frozen, my words hitting her like a physical blow. The fear in her eyes slowly began to melt away, replaced by a raw, flickering spark of quiet realization.

I stood up from the park bench, stepped over to her, and took her firmly by the wrist.

"The tech shop isn’t closed yet," I said, my tone absolute and leaving no room for debate. "Let’s go get you new gear."

"Wait—Ethan, no!" she protested, her words resisting even as her feet automatically moved with me toward the supercar. "Are you out of your mind?! It’s past midnight! Plus, what if he just smashes this one too? I can’t let you throw away another hundred thousand dollars just for my dad to take a golf club to it again—"

"I’ve already got a plan for where the setup goes," I cut her off smoothly, opening the passenger door for her. "Get in."

Twenty minutes later, after a quick phone call to the store owner, we stepped through the private side-entrance of the high-end tech hub. The display lights hummed to life around us, illuminating rows of pristine liquid-cooled rigs and high-refresh-rate displays.

"No budget," I said, leaning back against the front desk with my arms crossed. "Get everything you had before, plus whatever extra peripherals you forgot to grab the first time."

Amanda stood completely frozen in the middle of the showroom floor, staring at me like I had lost my sanity. "Ethan... I can’t just... I literally haven’t even processed the first disaster!"

I narrowed my eyes slightly, a sharp, challenging smirk creeping onto my face as I decided to ignite the spark she was hiding.

"Let’s make a deal," I said, dropping my voice into a slow, calculating drawl. "I need to know if you’re actually worth this investment, or if you’re just all talk on Discord."

She blinked, her posture shifting. "What?"

"We compete right here, right now," I said, rage-baiting her with a dry, dismissive shrug. "One 1v1 match on the store’s demo rig. If I win, you pay back every single cent of both setups out of pocket. If you win, you keep the entire new setup, no strings attached." I paused, letting out a soft, mocking chuckle. "Then again, maybe your dad was right. Maybe under real pressure, Luna_Sky is just a casual who drops frame rates when it actually counts."

The flustered, timid college girl instantly vanished.

Amanda’s jaw set into a hard line, her eyes flashing with a sudden, hyper-competitive fire. The rage-bait hit the exact target, waking up the predator hiding inside her. She didn’t get aggressive—she just locked into pure, focused gaming mode, a sharp, lethal grin taking over her face.

"Oh, you think you’re funny, huh?" Amanda purred, stepping straight up to the demo workstation and pulling back the heavy gaming chair. "Power up the rig, investor. I’m about to make you regret every single word that just came out of your mouth."

Amanda went through the aisles like a woman possessed, her competitive drive completely lit on fire. She didn’t hesitate for a single second this time—picking out top-tier liquid-cooled rigs, dual high-refresh OLED displays, custom mechanical switches, noise-canceling headsets, and every stream-deck expansion peripheral she could get her hands on.

When we reached the register, the store manager tallied up the fresh batch of high-end equipment.

I casually tapped my card against the terminal once again.

[Transaction Complete: $148,000] [Updated System Ledger] [Total Expenditure: $3,130,500] [Remaining Balance: $27,709,500]

Another massive chunk of money left my account without a second thought. The manager and his team quickly packed everything up and carried the pristine boxes directly out to the supercar, carefully fitting what they could into the boot and back cabin space.

Once everything was loaded, Amanda slid into the passenger seat, hugging her knees and looking at the mountain of hardware surrounding her with a mixture of awe and absolute determination.

"Alright, investor," she said, her eyes locked on me with a smirk. "Where are we setting this up? Because I have a match to win."

"Hold your horses," I said, leaning over the driver’s door before shutting it. "Stay in the car for five minutes. I have one more stop to make for a sick plan of my own."

I walked down the quiet, moonlit street toward the high-limit private banking terminal nearby. Sliding my custom metal card into the heavy vault ATM, I selected the maximum manual cash withdrawal option, authorizing a immediate physical payout.

Bzzzzzz—ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-click.

The machine began to hum aggressively as stack after stack of crisp, banded hundred-dollar bills poured out into the secure vault dispenser.

[ATM Cash Withdrawal Approved: $50,000]

[Updated System Ledger]

[Total Expenditure: $3,180,500]

[Remaining Balance: $27,659,500]

I pulled out the five thick, heavy bricks of fifty thousand dollars in cash, stuffing them securely into a sleek duffel bag I grabbed from the boot.

Sliding back into the driver’s seat, I tossed the heavy bag into the center console between us with a dull, dense thud.

Amanda blinked, staring at the bag in confusion. "Uh... what’s in there? Is that... heavy?"

I glanced at her with a cold, ruthless smirk as I fired up the twin-turbo engine, letting it roar to life under the night sky.

"That," I said, shifting into gear, "is the weapon we’re using to handle your father once and for all."