Wall Street bigwigs!

(Dear Sect Elders, the Sect Competition has begun at midnight. We earnestly request your votes. Thank you!)

Uma took leave on Friday noon to help Christina move.

She told Christiana that she was a little scared living alone in her apartment, so she asked Christiana if she wanted to move in with her so she could look after her.

Cristiana, who was already strapped for cash, hesitated. Uma had been laying the groundwork for days; how could she let the other party slip away so easily?

Uma offered to let Christiana pay the rent, and even offered to drive her to and from school.

In the end, Christina agreed, because Uma had to go back to New York that night, so she had to take time off work to help Christina move.

Green rented Uma's apartment in Argyle Apartments, which is on the 17th floor and has the best city view in the vicinity.

The entire apartment is over 200 square meters, a world apart from the Sun Plaza apartment that Christina rented.

Sun Plaza Apartments used to be known as California's most famous brothel, so the rent was very low.

Uma's apartment is decorated in an Italian style, and Cristiana fell in love with it at first sight.

After the two carried their luggage inside, Uma took a bottle of water from the refrigerator and handed it to Christina.

"This apartment building was once home to Frank Sinatra, Howard Hughes, and Marilyn Monroe."

Christina was somewhat surprised.

"Really? So many celebrities have lived here? This apartment must be very expensive, right?"

Uma waved her hand, feigning indifference, and said.

"I heard the annual rent is over $7, not including property management fees."

Christina clicked her tongue in amazement, thinking to herself how generous Uma's boyfriend, Green, was.

No wonder he works in finance on Wall Street; his rent this year is equivalent to two years' income for a middle-class family.

"There are two rooms left. You can stay in whichever one you like. I suggest you stay in the one on the east side, so you can wake up in the sunlight every day," Uma said, taking a small sip of water.

"Thank you, then I'll choose the one on the east side."

The two then set to clear out the room.

As evening approached, Uma, seeing that it was almost time, spoke to Christina.

"I won't have dinner with you tonight. There are ingredients in the fridge; you can try making it if you want."

If you don't want to display the phone numbers and menus of several restaurants near your door, you can call them to deliver food to your door; the fees are billed and settled monthly.

After saying that, he took out a spare key from the drawer and handed it to Christina.

"This is the apartment key and elevator card. You can go to the gym on the second floor to find my fitness coach. She's a very nice person."

Take good care of yourself while I'm gone for a couple of days, okay? Goodbye, darling!

Uma dragged her suitcase out the door, specifically carrying several sets of underwear that Green needed to critique.

Looking at the empty apartment, Cristiana felt as if she had been transported to another world.

Yesterday I was still living in a cramped little apartment.

She felt like it was all a dream after moving into the most luxurious apartment in Hollywood today and having a king-size bed all to herself.

Following Uma's instructions, Christina opened the kitchen refrigerator. The crisper drawer was filled with a lot of food, clearly prepared on purpose.

After all, judging from Uma's usual behavior, she can't cook.

As she said, there was a restaurant's phone number and menu at the door, and they also offered delivery service with payment at the end of the month.

Moreover, the $10,000 monthly allowance ensures that Uma can live comfortably as long as she wants.

She could go to the best restaurants and eat the finest French food every day, and she still wouldn't run out of money. (In 1988, the best French restaurants cost an average of 120-150 per person; private clubs are not included in this count.)

This is exactly the quality of life Christine has always dreamed of.

Fortunately, Christina's resolve was unwavering, and she quickly suppressed her negative thoughts.

After sitting alone on the sofa for a while, gazing at the city view outside the floor-to-ceiling windows until she felt a little hungry, Christina got up and went to the kitchen to pick out some ingredients from the refrigerator.

"Let's have French onion soup and Provençal stew, and black bean rice for the main course."

Christina murmured softly, her hands moving swiftly.

Meanwhile, Uma drove her car at top speed to Burbank Airport, the closest airport to Hollywood.

Uma held the steering wheel while smoking a cigarette, his fingertips moving nimbly across it.

No one knew what she was thinking, but a meaningful smile appeared on her lips.

~~~

Let's go back to the day after Green and Uma's phone call.

Green has a lot going on today; the company registration and compliance/regulatory aspects are almost all settled.

As a result, the company's office location has not yet been determined, mainly because there are too many office locations to choose from in New York recently.

The last time Trump led hundreds of small and medium-sized business owners to discuss expanding tax incentives with the mayor, the result was obvious: the city hall held firm to its plans and did not compromise with Trump.

So now the vacancy rate for office buildings in New York has increased by another 2%, reaching 10% overall. Green has been overwhelmed with choices these past few days.

Richard had mentioned that he had a friend who worked in real estate, so Green asked him for his contact number.

Green and CFO Vera's main task today was to go with the real estate agent to take one last look at the office building they were most satisfied with last time.

The two parties agreed to meet at 8:00 a.m. in the underground parking lot of 75 Tower, which is located next to the East River in Lower Manhattan.

This building is an asset of Barclays Bank's U.S. headquarters, with a large enough property area and a good enough location.

Of course, the rent and property are not cheap, but the high rent can enhance the company's image and also filter out those miscellaneous neighboring companies.

Cushman & Wakefield, a commercial real estate brokerage founded in 1917, has a wide network of connections in New York. Salesman David was already waiting there.

After exchanging polite greetings, David and the property manager led Green and Vera to the elevator on the 28th floor.

The last time Green looked at unit 03-06, the total area was 5500 square feet (approximately 511 square meters).

These units have never been rented out, so they are still in a simple renovation state in front of the group. The property management provides water and electricity and simple leveling work.

The company is newly established and there are still many expenses. Green had previously discussed with Vera that the rent needed to be reduced further.

Other office buildings readily agreed to lower rents.

But the property management here absolutely refused to agree, because the building owner is Barclays Bank.

The arrogance unique to the British: take it or leave it, they'll take it or leave it.

If Green hadn't genuinely loved the unique and expansive views, Villa would have preferred to rent the 85 Broad Street building next to Goldman Sachs headquarters to be neighbors with a top investment bank.

But there's nothing we can do; the boss likes it.

Vera had no choice but to continue negotiating with Barclays' asset management department.

This time, David from Cushman & Wakefield deliberately didn't hire the British manager he had previously hired, but instead hired the American manager he was more familiar with.

Green stood by the window, looking down at the scenery along the East River, ignoring Vera's negotiations.

David was clearly eager to close the deal. Richard had privately spoken to him on the phone about Green, saying that since they were all friends, they should help each other out with a discount.

After the three parties whispered among themselves for about ten minutes, Vera walked up to Green and nodded, indicating that the deal was done.

The property management company agreed to reduce the rent from $12/sq ft/month to $10/sq ft/month, a decrease of 16.7%.

However, the property management fee is charged at a fixed price for the entire building, so there is no way to get a discount. It is $3.5 per square foot per month. Fortunately, with David's help, Vera negotiated a 6-month rent-free period for the renovation.