Lahat ng Kabanata ng From Trash to Titan: Kabanata 341 - Kabanata 350

Back at the Ashford hotel. The rest of the family did not stay much longer after their breakfast. The mood felt like it has been ruined after Victoria brought up Theo's standing in the family. Clara and Daniel were the first to leave. Daniel carried Theo against his shoulder, and he and Clara did not say anything to Victoria. Hell, Clara didn't even glance at her once on her way out the door. After what Victoria had just said to a five-year-old boy sitting three feet away from her, Clara was upset with her. Driana left next after she received a phone call. Isobelle followed Victoria out a few minutes later, already deep in conversation about moving a fitting up to that afternoon, and Julian barely lifted his eyes from his coffee as the two of them walked past him.That left only Maxwell and Julian at the long table, along with two cups of coffee that had gone completely cold. A waiter hovered somewhere near the doorway waiting for a signal from them.Julian leaned back in his chair

Maxwell was calm."Well, he can't prove that it was me," Maxwell said.He believed it completely. There had been no face on that footage, and no real name on that visitor log, nothing that could hold up anywhere that mattered. As far as any court in this country was concerned, the man in the grey uniform did not exist.Dorian had recognized him anyway.Maxwell already understood why. He'd had the whole ride over to work it out for himself. The coronation footage had been running on every channel in the city for twelve straight hours by the time that photograph landed on Dorian's desk. Every angle of Maxwell crossing that stage was on it: the same build, the same height, the same unhurried way he moved through a room, whether he was accepting a company or breaking into one. Dorian had not needed a face. He had simply watched that walk on live television for half a day, then matched it against a hallway from months before."Legally, you're correct," Eleanor said. "He cannot prove it. No

That same morning, while the Sterling meeting was going on, the entire Zenith Group had their own emergency meeting at Marchmont House.The meeting took place on the forty-eighth floor, inside a boardroom no outsider had entered in more than twenty years.Zenith Capital Group did not believe in independent directors.It did not believe strangers deserved access to family decisions.Every single person inside this space was a Zenith. Not one outside director.Not one independent appointment. Not one professional executive brought in from another company because of his reputation or his qualifications. Every seat at that table belonged to a man or woman who carried the family name, and it had been that way for four generations.It did not stop at the boardroom either. The chief financial officer was a Zenith. The head of legal was a Zenith. The woman who ran the entire logistics division was Dorian's aunt. The two secretaries seated against the far wall taking notes were both Zeniths, a

Maxwell didn't answer him immediately, instead he simply changed the slide again.A chain of invoices, freight records, and inspection reports appeared."Harcourt Manufacturing subcontracted seventy-three percent of its Sterling orders to Bell Precision last year," Maxwell revealed. "Bell produced the components. Bell packaged them. Bell delivered them to Harcourt's distribution facility."He pointed toward the final figures."Sterling paid Harcourt one hundred and sixty-eight million dollars."The screen changed."Harcourt paid Bell fifty-two million."The boardroom exploded into shocked murmurs!One hundred and sixteen million dollars!Harcourt Manufacturing had taken more than one hundred million dollars simply by standing between Sterling Industries and the company performing the real work!Arthur could not believe this. He leaned closer to the screen."Are these figures verified?""Three separate departments verified them," Maxwell answered. "The freight movements came from Merid

Forty minutes later, Maxwell drove through the iron gates of Fairview Golf Club.The last time he came here, he had arrived without an invitation. Driana had refused to meet with Sterling Industries, so he had come hunting for her father, and the receptionist had looked at him like a man trying to talk his way into a place he did not belong. He had been forced to say the Sterling name out loud just to get past the desk.Today, nobody asked him anything.The moment Maxwell stepped into the clubhouse, the room changed.Conversations dropped away. Men lowered their newspapers to have a better look at him. Two women near the reception desk turned in their seats and forgot to turn back. A retired banker by the window actually stood up, then realized Maxwell was not walking toward him and sat down again.Everyone here belonged to the upper circles of the city. How could they not recognize the face that had been printed across every financial paper in the country since yesterday afternoon?T