All Chapters of From Betrayal To Billions: Chapter 11
- Chapter 20
22 chapters
CHAPTER 11
Reynolds nearly dropped his tablet in shock when Jace emerged from his study, looking all rumpled in a wrinkled cotton blue shirt, faded colored loafers and tattered jeans.“Sir, is everything okay?” He asked incredulously, looking genuinely worried. “Are you ill?”“I want to take a stroll,” Jace replied with a slight nod. “Don’t wait up for me?”“Looking like that?” Reynolds asked incredulously. “You look like a hobo…forgive my manners.”Jace adjusted the faded green baseball cap over his brow and chuckled, “It’s a disguise, Reynolds. I would like to be anonymous and I don’t want to bring any unwanted attention to my self.”“Anonymous.” Reynolds scoffed and rolled his eyes. “You. The man who bought Luxembourg’s largest hospital by accident last Tuesday.”“Well, they don’t have to know that,” Jace laughed. “I am tired of staying indoors Reynolds.”“Ok…should I go with you?”“And blow my cover?” Jace asked as he opened the huge foyer doors. “No I don’t think so.”“You won’t be treated
CHAPTER 12
Jace loosened his tie as Reynolds gathered the files from the huge mahogany table. The board meeting had went on for hours. Another hostile company takeover secured, another empire crumbling at his feet and he couldn’t be more happier.Mila lingered by the huge floor to ceiling windows, her silhouette looming against the city lights.Reynolds clears his throat and said croakingly. “Sir, I will finalize the Tokyo agreement drafts.” He bowed slightly and exited.But Mila didn’t move an inch.Jace looked up from his tablet and tilted his head. “Any problem?”She turned to face him with her arms crossed tightly and replied wonderingly, “You haven’t said a word about Ethan’s dinner invitation.”Silence. Then Jace laughed loudly as he poured himself a shot of bourbon, then he said incredulously, “Ethan? Cheat? Please. Six years of watching that bastard grovel at Stella’s feet taught me one thing…he is obsessed with her.” He slid a glass of gin towards Mila. “But he is also a drowning man. A
CHAPTER 13
“Mother” Stella cried out angrily as she steps down the wide staircase to the huge Withman hall. “I am not sure of Ethan no longer. He is up to something very shady.”“Tsk tsk darling…” Morana Withman crooned from the dining area. “Why do you say so child? You know that man loves you dearly.”“You heard of the rubbish he did recently?” Stella shrieked. “He invited Mila over to dinner at his family’s mansion, knowing very well I wouldn’t be there—”“How then did you get the information?”“I was coincidentally having dinner with the girls at La perle, mother,” she replied, “when Mila got a notification from Ethan, inviting her over to dinner.”“Oh.” Morana paused in her table arrangement as she stared at her in shock.“Yes. What insolence!” Stella spat angrily. “And do you know the worst part? I saw that slime dining at the restaurant.”“What slime?” Morana asked, as she pointed at the maids to set the table. “Darling, don’t you think you are overworking yourself over this….minor issue?
CHAPTER 14
The Foster family office was a monument to old money and old grudges. Floor to ceiling windows offered a clear view of the city, but Marcus Foster fixed his attention on a single sheet of vellum paper on his desk…his uncle’s last will and testament. A copy, of course. The real one was locked away, what should have been his.“It’s an insult. This is what it is.” Marcus snarled. He crushed a Cuban cigar ashtray, the lit ashes dying with a hissing sound. “A final, clear slap in the face from a senile old man.”Matthew, his personal assistant, stood with the fallen posture of a man who had delivered too much bad news. “The will is inaccessible, sir. Placed under heavy security with the firm’s executor. But….there is a condition.”Marcus snapped his head up, with an intense interest in his eyes. “What condition?”“The heir…this Jace….must hold the controlling shares of Parkinson Group for one full calendar year. If he fails, if the company’s value reduces or he is forced to sell….everythin
CHAPTER 15
The Montgomery penthouse which was once a symbol of untouchable opulence, now felt like a bedazzled cage. The air was thick with the irritating advent of expensive whiskey and pure, undiluted panic.Ethan Montgomery paced the length of the Persian rug, his movements jerky and uncoordinated. The financial news channel was on mute on the massive screen, but the words at the bottom screamed the story loud enough…PARKINSON GROUP - 18.5%…MONTGOMERY MED - 22%… WITHMAN GROUP - 15%….“Eighteen percent!” Ethan roared as he finally snapped. He snatched the crystal flower pot from the wet bar and flung it into the fireplace and It exploded in a shower of glass shards. “In one hour! How is that even possible?”Stella Withman sat stiffly on a cream silk sofa, her posture perfect, her face a mask of fury. She was still dressed in the silver gown from the party, the glittering engagement ring placed on her finger now feeling like a chain. “You said it was done, Ethan. You said you had handled it. Yo
CHAPTER 16
The Parkinson Group boardroom was a pit of cobras, and they were all hissing at once. Jace took his seat at the head of the large mahogany table. Reynolds stood like a statue at his shoulder as the wave of their panic crash over him.“—catastrophic devaluation! Eighteen percent in a single hour!” “My phone has not stopped ringing! Investors are demanding answers!” “Thai is exactly what we were afraid of! Inexperience at the height!”An older man with a flat face and a too tight collar, Mr Albright, slammed his hand on the table. “This leak, this….this disaster! It never happened under Jonathan’s watch. He would have contained it.”Jace folded his fingers together, with a calm expression on his face. “And how would he have contained a leak of internal financials, Mr Albright? By wishing it away?”A woman with iron rimmed glasses, Miss Theroux, leaned forward. “Don’t be funny. This is serious. The vultures are circling. We have shareholders ready to sell immediately at the opening bell
CHAPTER 17
The Withman dining hall was like a stage, and every plate setting was like a prop. Stella, dressed in navy blue silk, played the gracious hostess, while Ethan, pale and tense, looked like a man waiting for his execution.“Mila, darling, I am so glad you came,” Stella purred as she topped up Mila’s wine glass with a vintage bottle that cost more than a car. “We simply had to clear the air after that….unfortunate misunderstanding at the penthouse.”Mila offered a thin, professional smile. “There’s nothing to clear, Stella. It was a Buisness dinner that ended abruptly. These things happen.”Ethan cleared his throat and traced his fingers nervously on the stem of his glass. “I owe you an apology, Mila. My behavior was….ungentlemanly. The pressure of the merger, the postponement…” He let the sentence hang like a pathetic plea for sympathy.“The pressure is understandable,” Mila said as she kept her tone neutral, without giving nothing away. She took a small, deliberate bite of her chocolat
CHAPTER 18
Jace listened to Mila’s narration of the dinner, with a blank expression on his face. When she finished, he did not rage or celebrate. “A private meeting,” he snickered as he swirled the scotch in his glass. “They are that desperate.”“They are terrified,” Mila corrected with her arms crossed. “Stella offered me a million dollars in cash. Ethan looked like he was going to be sick. They are drowning, and they think you are the only one who can hand them lifeline.”“Oh, I will throw them a line,” Jace said, his voice turning to deadly whisper. “I will just make sure it is attached to an anchor.” He turned to Reynolds. “Set it up.”Reynolds didn’t shake. “Parameters, sir?”“Anonymous. Neutral ground. A private room at the Oak Room, tomorrow night at nine. Tell them the CEO will meet with Ethan Montgomery alone. No lawyers. No Stella. Especially no Stella. If he brings so much as a bodyguard, the meeting is over before it begins.”Mila frowned. “You are actually going to meet him?”“No,”
CHAPTER 19
The Montgomery Medical boardroom was like a war zone. The long, polished table was like a battlefield, and Ethan and his father, Charles, were surrounded on all sides.“Sign over our remaining shares for a dollar?” Mr Albright roared, his face purple with fury. “It is not a negotiation, it is a execution! You have led us to our own slaughter, Charles!”“We had no choice!” Charles Montgomery shot back with hands trembling on the table. “The clinical trial data…if that gets out—”“You were the ones who buried it!” A mousy faced woman, Director Ivey, shouted and slammed her hands down on the table. “Your negligence, your secret, and now we are all paying the price with our livelihoods? The company has been brought to its knees by your family’s incompetence!”Ethan tried to regain control and raised his voice through the chatter. “We are not here to reminisce the past! We are here to decide on a path forward. This offer, however insulting, is the only one on the table.”“The only one from
CHAPTER 20
The luxury mall was a sanctuary of noise and chaos. Jace felt anonymous, in his simple outfit, like a ghost observing the world that had once rejected him. But the peace he felt was interrupted by a familiar, high pitched scream.“DADDY!”A small force of energy slammed into Jace’s legs and wrapped his tiny arms around him. Jace looked down in shock and saw the smiling face of Liam, the little boy he had loved as his own for six years. Before he could organize his emotions, Stella suddenly appeared beside him, with an expression of revulsion etched on her face and dragged Liam away from him forcefully.“Liam! Don’t you ever touch that!” She snarled, and shoved the little boy behind her. Liam scrunched his face in pain, with tears welling up in his eyes.Jace looked at her calmly and said, “He was just saying hello, Stella. No harm done.”“Hello?” She spat at him furiously, which drew the attention of nearby shoppers. “He has nothing to say to a man who sleeps in gutters. Look at you.