The Billionaire's True Heiress: From Fake Jewel to Real Crown novel Chapter 640

Lance and his father were run ragged, scrambling every day to shift money from one debt to another. The truth was simple—their cash flow had dried up.

They’d sunk a fortune into the redevelopment project, and now that problems had erupted, every cent was stuck. With the project stalled, the company was barely staying afloat—sooner or later, this would drag them down for good.

As she listened to Lance recount what happened, Claire immediately sensed the setup was too deliberate to be a coincidence.

Redevelopment projects always attracted trouble. How could the James family have failed to keep a proper watch on things?

A sensitive operation like that demanded your most trusted people. But now, after everything had gone sideways, what accountability could the project manager truly take? When it came down to it, it was the James family left to face all the fallout.

“You should have offered them a big settlement right away,” Claire said, genuinely baffled. “If you’d calmed them down with money from the beginning, how would things have ever gotten so public and ended up threatening the company?”

“We rushed over as soon as we got word,” Lance replied. “Actually, it was Frederic from the Byron family who made it there first.”

“They talked to the family, agreed on compensation, but the other side got greedy—really greedy.”

“They started out demanding two million dollars. Then it became five million. If they pushed it any higher, how were we supposed to possibly agree?”

Lance had a point: you could negotiate compensation, but there was no way you could just keep paying at any price.

“That family saw easy money. On top of that, a couple of other holdouts saw their chance and teamed up, pushing the buyout prices higher and higher,” Lance continued.

“We could scrape together enough to cover the original bereaved family, sure, but if we had to double every buyout offer in the neighborhood? Neither the James family nor the Byrons could foot a bill like that.”

They were already up to their necks in bank loans just to secure the land. Getting another loan now? Out of the question.

“If this keeps up, the James family will be finished.” Claire didn’t say it unkindly—it was simple fact. This project had been too big from the start.

It was never something just the James and Byron families could handle on their own.

The problem was ambition—they’d seen the promise of profit but hadn’t properly counted the cost.

Everyone wanted a piece of the redevelopment pie, but almost no one could swallow it whole and survive.

The biggest trap? Longtime residents.

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