Chapter 5

I didn’t go back home. Instead, I went straight to another property.

It was a small apartment I had bought with my own money, so neither Leo nor the Morgans knew about it.

I needed an absolutely quiet environment to plan my next steps.

The next day, I received a call from my father. His voice sounded both exhausted and furious.

“Nicole, what exactly did you do to Leo? Several of our ongoing partnerships fell through overnight! Every single one of them said Mr. Smith had intervened!

“Go beg him right now! Otherwise, our whole family will be left with nothing!”

I listened to his shouting on the other end, yet my heart remained completely unmoved.

Leo had used this trick in my previous life as well.

Every time I was “disobedient”, he would use my father’s company to pressure me.

And my father would always, without fail, shift all that pressure onto me.

“That’s your company, not mine,” I replied coldly. “Figure it out yourself.”

“You!” My father was so angry that he couldn’t speak. “I’m your father!”

“You only remember you’re my father when you need me to sacrifice for your company.”

After saying that, I hung up and blocked his number as well.

Not long after, a message came in from an unknown number.

“Nicole, don’t push me.”

It was Leo.

“Come meet me at the usual place. This is your last chance.”

The usual place was a high-end private club near his company. It was the same place where, in my previous life, I had lowered my head countless times, apologizing and begging for his forgiveness.

He thought that by using the same method, he could make me submit like before.

I looked at the message and smiled.

Then I replied with two words.

“I’m coming.”

At seven in the evening, I arrived at the private room of the club right on time.

Pushing the door open, I saw Leo sitting on the sofa, his posture arrogant. When I walked in, he didn’t even bother to lift his eyes.

Sophie was sitting beside him.

When she saw me, she immediately put on a worried and helpless expression, calling out softly, “Nicole…”

Only then did Leo raise his eyes to look coldly at me.

“Do you know what you did wrong now?”

I ignored him and walked straight over to sit across from him. Then I took a USB drive out of my bag and placed it on the table.

“This is what you wanted.”

Leo raised an eyebrow, seemingly a little surprised that I would be so sensible.

He picked up the USB drive, a trace of a victor’s disdain flashing through his eyes.

“If you had done this earlier, none of this would have gotten so ugly.”

Sophie also spoke at the right moment, playing the role of the peacemaker. “Nicole, don’t argue with Leo anymore. He’s only doing this for the company. You two should make up.”

I watched the two of them play off each other, and it felt like I was watching a poorly acted play.

“Leo,” I said slowly, “the USB drive doesn’t just contain the Westside project materials. There’s also a gift for you.”

Leo frowned, clearly not understanding what I meant.

I smiled. “You’d better take a look now. Otherwise, I’m afraid by tomorrow morning, you’ll be on the front page of the financial news.”

My tone was calm, yet it carried an undeniable certainty.

Leo stared at me for a few seconds, a hint of doubt flashing through his eyes.

In the end, he still picked up the USB drive and plugged it into the laptop beside him.

He first opened the folder for the Westside project and quickly skimmed through it. After confirming everything was in order, his expression eased slightly.

Then, he noticed another file.

The file name was: “A Gift for Mr. Smith”.

He hesitated for a moment, but still clicked on it.

Inside was an extremely detailed short-selling report, and the target was his company.

The report carried out a devastating analysis from multiple angles—financial loopholes in recent years, irregular operations, as well as the hidden risks in several core projects.

It even included a complete plan capable of crashing his company’s stock price within three days.

The level of professionalism and precision in this report far surpassed that of any top investment bank.

In my previous life, I had personally created it as a risk contingency plan to help him fend off external threats.

And in this world, no one understood the fatal weaknesses of his company better than I did.

Leo’s expression shifted from initial disdain to confusion, then shock, and finally to a bone-deep pallor.

Then, the hand holding the mouse began to tremble.