All Chapters of Jackson Hart: The Student Billionaire : Chapter 381
- Chapter 390
443 chapters
Chapter 382: The Official Pronouncement!
The waiting room of the city's central medical examiner's office was a study in sterile dread. Fluorescent lights hummed overhead, bleaching the color from every face. The air smelled of antiseptic and despair.They sat in a ragged line of grief and defiance: Copper, rigid in a chair, his knuckles white where they gripped his knees. Whitaker stood sentinel by the door, his usual calm replaced by a coiled, predatory stillness. Bella’s face was a mask of tear-streaked porcelain, Nancy’s arm wrapped tightly around her shoulders. James stared at the floor, while Andrew and Evans exchanged silent, haunted glances. They were a fortress under siege, and the final battering ram was moments away.The tension was a physical thing, thick enough to choke on. Every tick of the wall clock was a gunshot. Every footstep in the corridor outside sent a jolt through them.They had clung, for forty-eight agonizing hours, to a single, fraying thread of hope. The math of two bodies and three people. Jackso
Last Updated : 2025-12-23
Chapter 383: Ashes to Ashes!
The sky over the Hart family cemetery was a seamless, unforgiving sheet of iron-gray. It promised rain but withheld it, as if even the heavens could not muster the appropriate tears for such a stolen farewell. The air was still and heavy, thick with the scent of damp earth and cut flowers that did little to mask the deeper smell of loss.Jackson’s friends stood in a half-circle around the raw, open wound in the earth. A crowd of black-clad mourners stretched back towards the gothic mausoleums and weathered headstones, a mix of high-society faces, corporate vultures, and genuine friends. But at the front, closest to the abyss, was the inner circle—shattered, holding each other up. It was still appearing like a dream when the doctor first made the pronouncement that one of the two recovered bodies from the inferno was actually Jackson.They had thought he had made some kind of mistake and that Jackson would be found soon alive. But as the days rolled by and the media began pushing the
Last Updated : 2025-12-24
Chapter 384: The Transfer of Power!
The boardroom of Hart Global Holdings was a temple to a bygone era. The atmosphere was thick with a tension far removed from the raw grief of the cemetery. This was a colder, sharper thing—the tension of calculation, of opportunity, of legacy being weighed and measured.Mr. Copper sat in his customary seat, not at the head—that chair had been Jackson’s, and now stood hauntingly empty—but close to it. He looked like a man carved from ancient stone, his grief etched so deep it had become a new topography on his face. Whitaker was not present; his role had never been corporate. Copper was the last sentinel.The other board members avoided his eyes. They were a mix of old-guard loyalists, their faces pale with genuine loss, and pragmatic operators already adjusting their mental spreadsheets. The silence was broken only by the soft rustle of agendas and the click of a pen.Then the double doors opened.All heads turned. Peniel walked in, and a chill seemed to follow him, cutting through
Last Updated : 2025-12-24
Chapter 385: The Keeper in the Ruins!
The whiskey in Copper’s glass was cheap, the burn a welcome distraction from the deeper, more profound ache in his chest.He had lost. Not just a battle, but the entire war. The purpose of his life had been voted out of existence by men in suits who valued stability over truth, profit over justice. Peniel’s final words echoed in his skull: “Try to find some peace in the ruins.”Ruins. That’s all he had. The ruins of a promise made to a dying friend. The ruins of a legacy he’d guarded with his life. The ashes of a boy he’d loved as a son.He lifted the glass, the amber liquid catching the low light. He didn’t drink. He just stared into it, as if the answers might swirl up from the bottom.Why didn’t you fight harder? The thought, vicious and unbidden, rose from the depths of his grief. You were Flameborn. You survived the impossible before. You were supposed to be stronger than fire.He blamed Jackson, for a fleeting, shameful second. He blamed him for succumbing, for leaving him alone
Last Updated : 2025-12-25
Chapter 386: The Devil with Fewer Teeth!
The lights were low in the study at Sky Tower. The empty chair at the head of the desk was a silent scream, but Copper no longer looked at it. His gaze was fixed on Whitaker, who stood by the fireplace, a glass of water in hand instead of whiskey. The old soldier listened, his face an impassive mask, as Copper relayed the conversation in the bar.“...and then she presented Celestine. Not as a suggestion, but as a solution,” Copper finished, his voice rough. “A way to reclaim the empire from Peniel’s grasp.”Whitaker took a slow sip of water, his eyes distant, assessing the battlefield from a new, unexpected angle. “Celestine,” he murmured.This was looking like a teasing game already. A few months ago, they had been the ones who had wanted to find Elara’s daughter connecting it to the reason why Elara suddenly showed up after twenty years.And now, here they were no longer sure of the path to take. Both men knew Elara very well and what kind of games she knows how to play best.Since
Last Updated : 2025-12-25
Chapter 387: The Spare Heir!
Elara let the door sigh shut behind her, the weight of the meeting with Copper settling on her shoulders like a familiar cloak. She allowed herself one small, satisfied exhalation. The hook was set. The old keeper, driven by grief and duty, had been maneuvered exactly where she needed him.In the living area, curled in a wingback chair by the window, was Celestine. She wasn't reading. She was staring out at the city's tapestry of lights, her expression a complex map of anticipation and simmering frustration.Ever since she returned from Sky Tower, her relationship with Elara had become better as they were now relating better as mother and daughter. As a matter of fact, she and Elara had planned the meeting with Copper because over the last couple of days, Elara had ignited a fire within her—one that made her see herself as Jackson’s replacement and now that Elara was back, she wanted to hear all about how her meeting with Copper had later turned out."Well?" She turned as Elara ente
Last Updated : 2025-12-26
Chapter 388: The Terms of Alliance!
Elara allowed a small, private smile to touch her lips. He was moving fast, trying to seize some semblance of initiative. "Of course. Neutral ground is wise. I know a place. The old Veridian Gallery in the warehouse district. It's closed for renovation. Private. We can meet tomorrow evening, after hours."A pause on the other end. She could almost hear his mind working, assessing the location for traps. "Whitaker will sweep it first.""Naturally," Elara conceded smoothly. "We all value security. Especially now."Celestine stood perfectly still, listening intently, her earlier restless energy now coiled into focused anticipation. The silence after Copper agreed to the meeting stretched for a moment, but Elara could sense he wasn't finished. His caution was a tangible force, even through the encrypted line."Does Celestine truly understand what she's stepping into? This isn't a title. It's a target. Peniel, the Foundation, every rival and sycophant who wanted a piece of her father... t
Last Updated : 2025-12-26
Chapter 389: The Veridian Accord!
Copper and Whitaker arrived first at the agreed venue where they had agreed to meet with Elara and Celestine, having swept the location an hour prior. Whitaker’s presence was a shadow, his eyes continuously scanning the dark recesses beyond the light. Copper stood stiffly, his hands clasped behind his back, the weight of the last weeks etched into the new lines on his face. This felt like a betrayal of Jackson’s memory, treating with the woman whose history with Philip was a minefield and whose current motives were shrouded in self-interest.Elara and Celestine arrived precisely at eight. They stepped into the circle of light as if onto a stage. Elara was a study in understated power—a tailored coat, her silver hair a sleek helmet. Celestine, beside her, was something else entirely. She wore a simple, dark dress, her posture erect but not stiff. She had her father’s intense eyes and her mother’s evaluating stillness.Introductions were minimal, stripped of courtesy. Elara gave a cur
Last Updated : 2025-12-28
Chapter 390: Breaking the Surface!
The hallway outside Bella’s room felt like a vigil site the next morning. Linda wrung her hands, her eyes red-rimmed. “She still won’t come out. She won’t eat the toast I left.”Nancy, who had spent a sleepless night fueled by worry and anger, didn’t nod in sympathy. Her jaw was set. This wasn’t a time for softness. Softness had allowed Bella to build a tomb out of her own bedroom.Beside her, James loomed, his usual easy-going demeanor replaced by a grim solidity. After a fruitless trial to get to Bella, Nancy had to call him up, believing he was the best bet to get through to her.He’d seen men retreat into themselves after loss, and he knew the only way out was sometimes a firm, unwelcome hand.“We’re not asking this time,” Nancy said, her voice low. She looked at Linda. “I need you to trust me. And maybe… wait in the kitchen.”After a hesitant moment, Linda nodded, retreating down the hall with one last, agonized look at the door.Nancy didn’t knock. She turned the handle. It was
Last Updated : 2025-12-28
Chapter 391: Trimming Lose Ends!
Sophia sat with a cup of untouched espresso, the afterglow of her successful press conference still warming her. The financial news channels were playing her clip on a loop on a muted screen mounted on the wall, the scrolling ticker below all positive: “Hart Global Shares Stabilize… Market Applauds Stewardship Move…”“Vance’s work with the board committee is proceeding exactly as outlined,” she said, a note of genuine satisfaction in her voice. “The emergency powers resolution should be ratified by the end of the week. Once that’s done, the asset divestiture can begin in earnest.” She looked at Peniel, who stood gazing out at the city skyline. “The path is clear.”Thomas Rouke finally spoke from his leather chair. “Clear, but not unobstructed. The public response is manageable. The board’s anxiety is being soothed. But we are not the only players making moves.”Peniel turned from the window. His expression was not one of shared satisfaction, but of cool assessment. There was absolut
Last Updated : 2026-01-01