Right now, there was no other way. They had to hand over the fifteen thousand dollars first.
Since Lillian had suggested it, the Bennett family figured there was a much bigger payout waiting for them, so they didn't fuss over giving their extended relatives fifteen grand each.
Everyone lined up, and the distant relatives eagerly pocketed their share. The rest of the cash was divided evenly among the core Bennett family members. At the end of the day, everyone got paid.
With cash in hand, the group completely bought into Lillian's promises.
Lillian immediately arranged for her people to escort the rowdy relatives back to the mountains. Of course, the moment they had the money, they tried to extort Lillian for travel expenses. She couldn't care less about the cost of a few bus tickets and simply chartered an entire train car to get them out of her sight as quickly as possible.
Having so many of them around was a liability. The sooner they were gone, the better.
That left only Celia Bennett's immediate family. Lillian booked them into a luxury hotel and had them chauffeured over.
Ethan returned to report after handling the logistics. "Ms. Mercer, everything is sorted. They seemed thrilled. The moment they saw the high-end suites, they were beside themselves. They're too busy gorging on room service and enjoying the luxury to think about anything else."
Lillian nodded. "Good. Let them stay there for now. As for the vacation, we'll wait for them to bring it up themselves. In the meantime, did you collect all their IDs and passports? Don't give them back to anyone, no matter who asks."
"I've got them all right here," Ethan said. "They had to pull out their IDs to check into the hotel, and they complained about the hassle, so they just tossed them to me to handle. I told them that if they want to travel abroad, I'd need their IDs to process their visas. They bought it completely."
"Perfect," Lillian said.
Inside the conference room, a collective sigh of relief washed over everyone.
"Ms. Mercer, spending all that money still feels like a total waste," Emma remarked.

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