Chapter 4

Zac never bothered to struggle. "You'd better think about this, Carl. Anything happens to you, and there won't be anyone in the Grant family who has the authority to sign the agreement."

Carl glared at him, but ultimately released him.

As Zac straightened and tidied his collar, the smile on his face faded.

"Now, my patience wears thin," he growled, putting the pen in front of Carl. "You will sign our agreement one way or the other."

Then, pointing at me, he smirked. "As for this one… It's no big deal to let me have some fun with her."

"Dream on," Carl growled, pulling me behind him.

Zac shrugged and checked his watch deliberately. "You only have thirty minutes left. You don't sign, and the twenty billion kept in Grantcorp foreign accounts will be liquidated mandatorily."

Carl wasn't even looking at him.

He turned, held my shoulders, and said very softly to me, "It's going to be alright. What you see here doesn't matter. Bob will be waiting at the basement carpark. Once the doors open, you run."

I held his gaze. "Is the family losing all their money?"

Carl paused for a moment. "Yeah."

"But I want to keep spending your money."

He smiled and patted my head, but the last spark in his eyes was gone. "Yeah, I'll make money some other way."

The doors of the room suddenly crashed open, and Quinn came dashing inside. Her hair was a mess, and her eyes were swelling from tears as she grabbed Carl's hand.

"Don't sign it! Max just sent a message. If we sign it, every asset we have goes to them too. Simon and Tim also just contacted us. They said they'd rather be in jail than hand over Grantcorp!"

Carl didn't respond, however.

Zac growled coolly, "You still can't read the room, can you, Ms. Grant? Your family has nothing to negotiate with now."

Quinn turned to me, her eyes flaring with rage. Grabbing my wrist, she pulled me towards the door and shoved.

"Go! Now! Just take Carl's money and run as far as you can!"

When I didn't move, her tears gushed out.

"Don't you always complain about wanting to slack off? We're going bankrupt, and Carl can't protect you. Hell, you can tell Zac isn't interested in you. He just wants to humiliate Carl. Leave while you still can!"

That was when Zac smiled. "Who said she can leave?"

He snapped his fingers, and two bodyguards promptly appeared at the doorway, cutting me off.

Quinn strode forward, keeping me behind her protectively, while Carl picked up the fountain pen on the table. "I'll sign it. Just let them go."

Zac laughed. "Too late. You could have signed it just now, and I would have let the missus leave. Now, they're both staying."

Carl's eyes narrowed murderously, but Zac's bodyguards advanced, their gun barrels barely a few feet away.

The representatives of the Twelve were all smiling too, as if they already owned Grantcorp.

One of them, a blonde man, gave me a once over while taunting him.

"Don't worry, Mr. Grant. When your family goes bankrupt, we'll make sure to take good care of that charming little creature for you. The same goes for your baby sister. We'll welcome her with open arms. And don't worry, we'd never run out of money."

The representatives of the Twelve all laughed.

Quinn was shaking with rage, but she stood between me and the representatives, blocking their sleazy stares. "She's a Grant! Don't you dare insult her!"

As I looked between her and Carl, Zac simply tapped his fingers loudly on the table. "Ten minutes."

Carl picked up the fountain pen on the table, taking off the cap.

Quinn was squeezing his arm, crying as he shook his head.

That was when Ben called him, and Carl put it on speaker. There was a long silence, until an elderly sigh could be heard.

"Just sign it. We need to look after our own."

Carl closed his eyes in resignation.

Just before the tip of his pen reached the paper, I said quietly, "Wait."

Everyone turned sharply towards me. I stepped out from behind Quinn, went straight to the main seat, and sat down.

Carl frowned. "Not now, Vera."

I ignored him, my eyes scanning through the Twelve and at the company logos displayed on the table.

Then, I pulled out an old phone I hadn't used for a long while to make a call. It was answered after just one beep.

I stared at the acquisition agreement, then calmly looked at the faces of each representative of the Twelve.

"Freeze all trades in the continent. I'm giving you a list of twelve organizations. Within 30 minutes, I want the people in charge at my location, explaining to me in person what they think they're doing."