When he noticed that the man beside him was getting dark, he quietly stood up.
Didn't wake up.
I don’t know how much time passed, but the sky in the gap between the curtains was still not as bright as it should be in the early morning. I was completely sleepy, and I fumbled to put on my underwear. I got out of bed barefoot and went to the window to open the curtains of the floor-to-ceiling windows. I saw a drizzle in front of my eyes. A gloomy scene.
The sky, the lake and the city buildings on the other side are all shrouded in this gloom.
My mood didn't become gloomy, but I really enjoyed this feeling.
The chill is coming.
Facing the cold air, I walked out of the bedroom, leaned on the balcony railing and looked around, not worrying about being seen.
This is a villa on Mercer Island in the middle of Lake Washington. It is located in Seattle. The mansion is more than two acres and is surrounded by green trees. The urban area on the other side of the lake is still covered by a curtain of rain.
When I was in college, I majored in advertising and art. I hadn’t started writing for a long time, but now I felt the urge to draw the surrounding scenery.
After all, it doesn’t belong to you.
The 33-year-old woman does not feel that she is getting old, but she now feels a sense of frustration.
How nice it would be to have a house like this of my own.
Just like my fantasy when I just left campus, I would create my own advertising company, own a beautiful house, and be free without material constraints.
Then, there is the gap between ideal and reality.
In school, she was the cheerleader, she was the homecoming queen, she was the envy of the girls, and the admiration of the boys.
When you enter society, you suddenly become nothing.
I remembered yesterday afternoon, when I heard that little man's invitation that was so natural, I felt that he was too overbearing, but I couldn't resist much.
There should be some yearning for it.
Yearning for a world that I have never touched.
So, after work was over, she went home and changed her clothes. She waited for a car to pick her up and sat in it resignedly, imagining what the next night would be like.
The result was still beyond her imagination.
Dinner was on his Boeing 767. It was an experience I had never had before, and it even felt a bit magical.
A very luxurious aircraft.
I didn't feel much show off from him.
Or, the young man who has been shrouded in too much halo really doesn't need to show off anything anymore.
Just kind of natural.
Like, well, it was so natural when he 'invited' himself.
It seemed like all of Hollywood belonged to him.
He is the king.
You can take whatever you want.
An inconspicuous little woman like her didn't even have the courage to be reserved in the face of the king's demands.
After dinner, the plane landed in Seattle at night.
The airport is in the city of Renton on the southern shore of the Great Lakes. After leaving the airport, you boarded a speedboat and crossed Lake Washington, and then entered this mansion.
It’s even a bit like coming home from get off work.
However, it is not the kind of thing where you have to drive hard for two hours on a congested road and be exhausted when you get home.
Very smooth.
Although.
Well, this is literally thousands of miles away from Los Angeles.
As she was thinking endlessly, a thick cotton bathrobe suddenly wrapped around her body.
Turning around, there was a man's warm smile.
She let her whole body be wrapped in the bathrobe, and he held her waist. After hesitating for a moment, she leaned forward, leaning back slightly, and kissed the man's lips lightly, saying, "Good morning."
"Morning," Simon looked at the woman in front of him, whose brown hair was soaked by the rain, and said, "I really don't want to disturb your view of the scenery, but believe me, having a cold is not good at all."
"It's so beautiful here." She replied, not sure if it was an explanation or something else. She paused, looked into the man's eyes, and said, "So, what are our plans for today?"
"Eat breakfast first and then go back to Los Angeles."
"ah?"
Simon said patiently: "I'm sorry, but I'm very busy. I'm afraid I can't spend the weekend with you here."
I really want to say that I can spend the weekend here by myself.
However, this seems a bit abrupt.
He could only nod obediently.
Simon looked at the woman's wet hair again and said, "It's better to take a shower first. Don't really catch a cold. I'll wait for you downstairs."
The man pulled me off the terrace and into the bathroom. When I closed the door, I finally mustered up the courage and invited, "Do you want to come with me?"
Simon smiled and shook his head, reaching out to help the woman close the bathroom door.
More than half an hour later, Sheila Ward walked out of the bedroom, wearing the same black coat and waist skirt she wore yesterday, which showed off her figure.
Women who wear black can easily put men off, so yesterday I deliberately wore all black.
It had no effect on him, and the man seemed to like it very much.
He walked downstairs slowly while stroking the handrail of the stairs, looking around curiously.
When I came downstairs, I saw a young girl in a light blue business suit arranging the furnishings on the sofa in the living room. When I noticed her appearance, the girl greeted her politely with a touch of alienation: "Good morning, Ward." Miss."
He took his hand back as if nothing had happened, nodded in response, "Good morning, B."
This is one of the flight attendants on his private plane. She is blonde, tall, and young. He calls her 'B'. There is another one called 'A'. The man casually introduced her last night. They are actually Betsy and Alison. He seems to I like this relatively concise title.
I don't know if there are also 'C' and 'D'.
There should be.
Own.
Well, it should be 'S'.
However, he didn't call himself that, he didn't even like to say his name, and he didn't use words of endearment like 'Honey'. He just spoke when he spoke, and then she knew he was talking to her.
The attitude of the girl in front of her towards her was obviously cold and hostile, as well as unconcealable envy.
Of course you know why.
They were younger and prettier, but he was more interested in her.
Suddenly she felt a little proud, and it was intentional to call her 'B' after him.
I really enjoyed this sense of superiority that I rarely experienced after leaving campus, so I raised my chin slightly and asked the girl in front of me: "Where is Simon?"
Seeing her like this, Betsy's tone became obviously colder, but she still said in a professional manner: "In the restaurant, Ms. Ward, please come with me."
Simon is reading the newspaper at the dining table.
Seeing her come in, the man said hello and motioned to Betsy who was following her to bring breakfast.
Sheila Ward sat down opposite Simon, raised her chin naturally, and asked, "Is there any interesting news today?"
Simon glanced at the "New York Times" in his hand again and said: "Saddam Hussein called on the Middle East countries at the meeting of the Arab Cooperation Council yesterday to unite and use their unparalleled energy advantages to build a country that can compete with Europe. A community of interests that rivals North America.”
Sheila Ward blinked a few times, with a hint of resentment on her expression, and said, "Do men become so perfunctory after they succeed?"
Simon nodded with a 'heavy' expression: "Yes, it's a cruel reality."
Sheila Ward wanted to grab something and throw it over. She glanced at the clean table and had to give up. She simply asked in a self-defeating tone: "Is there anything special about this news?"
Simon said calmly: "There's going to be a war."
Sheila Ward wondered: "Why, is it just because the countries in the Middle East want to establish an energy alliance? The Soviet Union and we have been at odds for so many years, but they have never started fighting."
"This is different," Simon shook his head and explained: "The federal army may not be able to defeat the Soviet Union, but it is still very easy to defeat Middle Eastern countries, not to mention, there is oil there."
Sheila Ward frowned slightly and said after a moment: "Simon, do you want to fight?"
"No, I am a staunch anti-war activist."
"In this case, Simon, you can try to use your influence to prevent the war from happening."
"I think self-destruction is the destined outcome of mankind, so I will not try to prevent this kind of thing, because it is inevitable." Simon shook his head, his eyes fell on the newspaper in front of him, and when he thought of something, he read softly: "War, War never changes."
Sheila Ward was a little dazed, and the few words muttered by the young man across from her made her feel an inexplicable aura of despair and desolation.
There should be a long, long story behind this sentence.
However, she had never heard of it.
Alison and Betsy served breakfast. Simon closed the newspaper and smiled again. He seemed to have forgotten the topic just now and said to the woman: "I see you like it here very much. Otherwise, you can spend your time here." It’s the weekend, I’ll have someone pick you up tomorrow afternoon.”
She had thought about it this way, but when the man brought it up, she subconsciously shook her head and said, "I don't want it anymore. I'm here alone and I don't know where to go."
"There are many places you can go, including the Space Needle, the University of Washington, and the Olympic National Park. By the way, I heard that there is a gum wall at Pike Place Market. You can go check it out and stick a piece of it on it yourself."
Sela Ward picked up the tableware handed over by Alison, shook her head with a smile and said, "It's disgusting just thinking about it. Besides, it's raining outside, so I'd better go back to Los Angeles with you."
After breakfast, the group took a speedboat to leave Mercer Island in the middle of the lake, arrived at the Langton Municipal Airport adjacent to the south shore, and boarded a flight back to Los Angeles.
It took less than two hours to go from rainy weather in Seattle to sunny weather in Los Angeles.
Sheila Ward got off the plane at Los Angeles International Airport and found that Simon had no intention of leaving the airport with her, so she learned that he had other plans.
Leaving the airport in the car that the man specially called to take her away, Sheila Ward looked at another plane roaring into the sky in the airport, and suddenly she felt as if the pumpkin carriage and the glass slipper had all disappeared.
Cinderella can still wait for her prince.
To him, she was probably just a passerby.
Damn man!
From Seattle to Los Angeles, and from Los Angeles to New York, Simon did not waste more than six hours of continuous flight time. He read various materials prepared by Cersei Capital along the way.
After this period of negotiation, Cersei Capital and Blackstone Group reached an agreement to acquire 50% of the equity of Blackstone Financial Management Company for US$75 million. Blackstone Financial Management Company’s US$3 billion of funds and Lawrence Fink’s team will be transferred as a whole to Owned by Cersei Capital.
In addition, Janet has re-planned the subsidiaries of Cersei Capital. The three subsidiaries currently confirmed to be established are Cersei Fund Management Company, Apollo Management Company and Black Rock Asset Management Company. Cersei Fund Management Company is naturally The other two companies, which are the most direct relatives of Cersei Capital, were named by Simon based on the information in his memory.
Needless to say, Black Rock, Apollo Management Company also existed in the original time and space.
In terms of ownership structure, the three subsidiaries are jointly held by the parent company Cersei Capital and the operation team, and each has its own business focus.
Cersei Fund Management Company is mainly engaged in financial hedging business, Apollo Management Company is responsible for alternative investments such as leveraged mergers and acquisitions and vulture investment, and Black Rock Asset Management Company is engaged in low-risk investment business such as mainstream securities, stocks and fixed income.
After the establishment of the three subsidiaries, sub-funds 6 to 10 were fully controlled by Cersei Capital again, and funds were allocated to each subsidiary based on actual conditions.
The biggest advantage of this is that the funds raised by Cersei Capital are still nominally held by sub-funds 6 to 10, and each subsidiary team is only responsible for management.
If the subsidiary team experiences losses or other situations, Cersei Capital can flexibly withdraw funds to avoid the situation from deteriorating.
Going a step further, you can even directly disband the subsidiary team and cancel the subsidiary. At the same time, funds will not be lost due to the turmoil of the subsidiary.
This adjustment was actually inspired by Janet's acquisition of Blackstone Financial Management.
The funds for Blackstone Financial Management were raised separately. Lawrence Fink's team wanted to change jobs collectively. It was difficult for Blackstone Group to draw out the bottom line and could only choose to compromise and sell the company's shares.
Wall Street has paid close attention to the recent series of moves by Cersei Capital, and investors from all walks of life are also very active in their investment intentions. Obviously, many people expect Cersei Capital to continue to create the profit miracles of Simon's financial operations in recent years.
Faced with the expectations of the circle, Simon doesn't have much pressure.
Because Simon knows one thing very clearly, Cersei Capital does not need to continue to create miracles. As long as this company has a performance that exceeds that of most of its peers on Wall Street, it will continue to grow and develop in the future.
With the advantage of predicting the next two decades and the management of an outstanding talent team, Simon is very confident in achieving this goal.
In addition to the two teams of Cersei Fund Management Company and Black Rock Asset Management Company, Janet has also poached the mergers and acquisitions team from Drexel Securities, which filed for bankruptcy in early January, to form the team of Apollo Management Company. The leader of the team is named Leon Black. After receiving the invitation from Cersei Capital and the promise of 30% of the equity, Black quickly gave up his original plan to go it alone and led the team to join Cersei Capital.
We are all smart people. If we work alone, it will be difficult for Black's team to obtain too much funds from investors in the short term because of his experience working at Drexel Securities, which just went bankrupt.
In comparison, Cersei Capital directly promised Leon Black $1 billion in starting working capital, and has already prepared the next phase of the work project for them: conducting vulture investments in the still volatile U.S. junk bond market. invest.
A large part of the total US$200 billion junk bond market in the United States is very guaranteed to be repaid.
However, as the overall bond market situation continues to deteriorate, the prices of many bonds with solvency have also plummeted. As long as these bonds can be found and bought at a price far lower than their book value, when the economic situation improves and the company recovers, investors can obtain very generous returns during the bond repayment process.
This is the basic idea of vulture investing to find valuable assets in a pile of financial ruins that seem to be about to disappear into ashes.
Janet did a lot of research on the U.S. junk bond market last year and accumulated a lot of information, so she and Lawrence Fink specifically talked about vulture investing at a cocktail party at Raybould's house some time ago.
However, when it comes to understanding the U.S. junk bond market, probably no one knows it better than the team at Drexel Securities.