LOGINI set the watch down. "That night at Atmos Club, Nicole was willing to hand over every share she owned if it meant you would let her family go. Did you agree?"Simone's expression went rigid.I continued, "The moment she agreed to sign, you told her it was too late. You kept raising the price again and again, not because you actually needed any of it. You thought you had already won, and you wanted to watch her lose all hope."Simone's shoulders trembled faintly.Outside, the sound of a car pulling up drifted through the door. Moments later, the investigators entered the living room with official documents in hand.Simone shot to her feet. "Lionel! I already gave you everything! Why won't you let me go?"I leaned back against the sofa. "Because none of it was ever yours to begin with."The investigators approached her. "Miss Montreux, please come with us for questioning."…The day after Simone's arrest, the authorities officially dropped every charge against the Grantham Grou
Connor stepped forward. "You called Lionel a kept man. But you poured hundreds of billions into a campaign backed by twelve funds, and you still couldn't lay a finger on him."He made one phone call, and your backer, your shares, your accounts, everything was gone. So which one of you is actually useless?"Simone's breathing grew ragged. "Shut your mouth!""Hit a nerve?" Connor was finally letting out everything he had swallowed over the past few days. "Weren't you supposed to be so capable? Then how come you can't even leave this room now without Lionel's say-so?"Simone swept a hand across the table, sending the documents flying. Papers scattered across the carpet.The investigators waiting outside immediately entered the room. She tried to resist, only to discover that not a single person was willing to help her. The lawyers, shareholders, and fund representatives who had once surrounded her all lowered their heads.Simone stood amid the scattered papers, completely alone.I
The next morning, the Grantham Group convened an emergency shareholders' meeting.Simone arrived right on time. A handful of lawyers followed behind her, along with a group of minor shareholders she had won over.Despite having her assets frozen, she still wore a sharply tailored dark red suit. Her makeup was flawless, and not a strand of hair was out of place.The moment she walked into the Grantham Group, she carried herself as though she still held every card.The meeting had barely begun when Simone slapped her shareholding documents onto the table. "I hold 15% of the Grantham Group's shares. Another 9% of the minority shareholders stand behind me as well."Under Nicole's leadership, this company has lost nearly 20 billion dollars in market value. She is no longer fit to serve as chief executive."She looked toward the Grantham family. "I move for Nicole's immediate removal."Several minor shareholders raised their hands in support.Olivia said coldly, "Those losses happene
By the time Simone reached the private airfield, the sky had already gone dark. Her assistant followed behind her with two suitcases filled with cash, jewelry, and several passports under different identities.Simone had spent the entire drive on the phone, but the same people who had once fought to curry favor with her would not even take her calls now.Hoyle had already been suspended by the Alliance. The twelve funds were too busy dealing with their own problems to help her. Even the people she had planted inside the Grantham Group had gone silent.Simone boarded the plane. "Once I'm out of here, I still have a chance. Lionel can't control the markets forever. Once his emergency authority expires, I'll make the Grantham family pay for this."The cabin lights were off.She took only a few steps before she stopped short.-I sat by the window and flipped through the vacation brochure she had commissioned.Nicole sat beside me. She had changed out of her daytime suit and into a
After the hearing ended, reporters swarmed the entrance to the Grantham Group's headquarters.Just the day before, they had been asking when the Grantham family would go bankrupt. Today, they were practically fighting each other for an interview with Nicole, eager to know whether the Grantham Group had any new investment plans in the works.Major banks reinstated the company's credit lines on their own initiative. Canceled contracts returned to the Grantham Group's desk one after another. Even the creditors who had hounded the Grantham family for repayment just a day earlier began sending apologies.Evelyn looked over the stack of partnership proposals piling up in the conference room and could not help but comment, "People sure change their tune fast."Connor scoffed. "Yesterday, they were still calling Lionel a curse on this family. Today, they've all switched over to Lionel."I sat in Nicole's office, unwrapping a limited-edition watch that had just arrived.Nicole sat behind
Within an hour, the story had climbed to the top of financial news headlines around the world.[Chairman Abuses Emergency Authority][Grantham Group Short-Selling Event May Have Been Self-Orchestrated][Lionel Jensen and Nicole Grantham Suspected of Unlawful Benefit Transfer]The details were laid out with unsettling precision. Even the watches and sports cars I had bought over the past three years had been compiled into one long list.The reports framed every item as proof that the Grantham Group had funneled benefits to me.Connor read through the article and furiously hurled his tablet onto the sofa. "Are they out of their minds? My sister buys things for her own man. What business is that of theirs?"Olivia's brow remained furrowed. "The rumors themselves don't matter. What matters is that people are already calling for the Grantham Group to be reinvestigated. If this keeps spreading, the public will start believing Lionel froze those twelve funds for his own personal gain."







