"That's already incredibly impressive."
Yanni gave Claire a respectful thumbs-up.
The matriarch of the Young family had recently suffered a stroke and was now entirely bedridden.
He couldn't help but wonder if Claire could restore a leg that top specialists had declared hopeless, perhaps she could do something for his grandmother.
But he wasn't in a rush; he needed to dig into her background first to see exactly who she was.
How on earth did someone so young possess the skills of a seasoned medical master?
Claire easily read the lingering skepticism in their eyes.
She even started to wonder if these men were regretting their decision to invest in Luminate, now that they knew she was the sole technical force behind it.
She was undeniably young, after all.
If the investors heard her thoughts, they would have told her she was overthinking it.
To produce two market-shattering formulas at her age was definitive proof of her genius.
Whether she had inherited ancient recipes or engineered them entirely on her own, it proved she had a limitless future.
If anything, their confidence in the investment had skyrocketed.
The men hadn't been greedy; the five of them had split a twenty-five percent stake.
Claire had previously stated she only wanted twenty percent.
Oakley and Sienna had each invested for a five percent share.
Owen held onto the remaining forty percent.
That was because his eldest brother, Phil, had taken a five percent cut.
His second brother stayed out of it entirely, casually offering to front the cash but refusing any equity.
Phil was slated to inherit the family empire anyway, so he wasn't losing sleep over a fraction of a startup.
Originally, Owen's mother, Karla, had poured money into the venture, but Owen was fiercely independent and refused the handout.
He returned the funds to his mother in full.
He paid his debts the moment he turned a profit; family or not, business was business.
Karla didn't hold it against her son; outside of the Churchill wealth, she had amassed a substantial fortune of her own and hardly needed to covet his success.
Everyone was perfectly content with this equity distribution.
Even though Claire controlled the
core technology, she only held twenty percent none of the men dared to push for a larger slice of the pie.
Asking for more would cross a line, and Owen certainly wouldn't have tolerated it.
He wasn't some helpless amateur; he was the young master of the Churchill family.
Back when he was just a careless playboy, the Churchills had always provided an impenetrable safety net.
Now that his business was booming, did anyone really think the Churchill family would sit back and let their youngest be exploited?
Then there was Claire-the fiercely protected granddaughter of the Churchill family. Padgett had
publicly recognized her, transferring every Strigle Share meant fortis daughter directly into her name.
The girl was The Affluent Heiress herself!
The combined wealth of Waylon and Quentin was practically pocket change compared to her net worth!
And on top of that, her fiancé was the formidable head of the Green family.
No matter what schemes anyone harbored, no one dared to reach out and try their luck.
Because if they did, Dane would ruthlessly sever the offending hand.
Once the initial introductions settled, the servers from the elite restaurant began bringing out the courses.
The spread they had ordered wouldn't cost a dime under twenty thousand dollars.
Only top-tier VIPs could order with such casual extravagance.
For anyone else, booking a private dining room required a mandatory minimum spend of a hundred thousand dollars, non-negotiable.
Both Owen and Dane held shares in the restaurant.
Regardless of the exact percentage, having those exclusive privileges was undeniably sweet.
After everyone had eaten their fill, Serena turned to Claire and asked for a quick health consultation.
"I don't actually feel anything wrong, but could you see if there's anything I need to improve?"
Claire checked her vitals, quickly getting a read on the wealthy socialite's habits.
"Do you habitually stay up late?"
"You can tell that just by checking?"
Serena prided herself on her
flawless makeup techniques, and given the luxury cosmetics she used, she assumed her dark circles were entirely invisible
"I didn't read it on your face. I read it in your pulse."