Chapter 197
“Mira, how can you think like that? When Mom and Dad cut ties with you back then, they just… they just p>
He wanted to say that they had only intended to teach her a lesson and let her hit a few bumps in the road.
Then, they would find an excuse to bring her back home.
They figured that once a girl used to a life of luxury experienced the harsh reality of the real world, she would become obedient and fall in line with the family’s arrangements.
It wasn’t just him; he was certain everyone in the family had thought the exact same thing at the time.
But the way things had actually unfolded had wildly exceeded all their expectations p>
Panic set in as Ethan realized, with sudden clarity, that his little sister might truly never come back.
“Just what? Lost your train of thought? Let me finish it for you p>
“When Mara assaulted Rachel, it was solely because Rachel had been kind to me. Simply put, it was just another way to get back at me p>
“And those so-called parents of mine actually enabled her violence and turned a blind eye. Later, when you came home, you chose to ignore it too p>
“So, Mara ending up in a jail cell was inevitable. Karma always comes knocking p>
Mira kept one last thought to herself: *This is nothing. The real payback is still to come p>
“I heard Rachel was stealing things that time p>
Ethan frowned in confusion.
“Stealing? You people are so completely blind. She said Rachel was stealing, and you just swallowed it whole p>
“Rachel worked for the Mercer family for years. If she were a thief, she would have been fired ages ago. Would they really have waited until now p>
“Mara claimed I pushed her down the stairs, and you believed her p>
“She said I took the diamond ring, and you believed her. She said I shattered the heirloom bracelet, and you still believed her p>
“Are you all completely brain-dead? Are the security cameras in that house just for decoration? Did it never occur to you to check the footage p>
“Whatever. I’m done talking about this. I’m busy p>
“Mira p>
Ethan’s brow furrowed, and he opened his mouth to explain, but she was already walking away. He instinctively chased after her, only to be blocked by the Iron Wolves.
“Mira, I really came out here just to see you! I’m not here about Mara p>
It was the truth. He had come specifically for her. The recurring dreams had left him burdened with an overwhelming sense of guilt toward his sister.
Mira didn’t even break her stride.
She had wasted ten minutes here. She needed to hurry back, grab something to eat, and head straight to the office.
The bike-sharing company had been insanely busy these past few days, deploying tens of thousands of bicycles daily.
With the surge in bikes came a massive influx of user deposits. Issues across every department—from management to maintenance, dispatching, and customer service -were piling up by the hour.
None of the problems were catastrophic on their own, but if left unaddressed, they would soon snowball into a massive crisis.
Fortunately, Lance and the rest of the executive team were keeping a tight leash on the departments to sort out the operational hiccups.
Mira’s primary focus right now was the mounting user deposits, which had already reached millions of dollars.
Their initial projection was forty thousand bikes. Even though they had only deployed about half of that, the number of users who had paid the deposit was already several times higher than the actual number of bikes on the street.
This pool of capital wasn’t actual profit; it was strictly security deposits collected from the users.
Any rental fees or charges for damaged parts were automatically deducted from these accounts.
The money users actually spent on riding the bikes was the company’s real
revenue.
Only the total monthly riding fees, minus all operational costs, constituted their true net profit.
Aside from that, as the bikes
became ubiquitous, ad placements
on the frames and within the app itself-driven by brand partnerships and licensing-would become a massive secondary revenue stream.
Furthermore, they could forge partnerships with municipal
governments and transportation
authorities to expand their service
scope, establishing a highly
profitable, mutually beneficial
business model.
Of course, a lot of those plans were still down the pipeline.
When Mira arrived at the office, Owen and a few finance executives were actively strategizing over the deposit capital.
“Boss, take a look at this stock p>
In the office, Owen always addressed her with strict professional formality.
Based on how companies in her past life handled these massive deposit pools, the standard move was to park it in a bank or invest in low-risk wealth management products.