The emergency strategy meeting convened at seven a.m. Thursday in Marcus's office, before the building filled with executives who’d start asking questions about closed-door gatherings. Charlie arrived first, carrying coffee that had already gone cold. Marcus, Emily Torres, Joseph White, and Daniel filed in within minutes, each bringing different expertise to a war that had become undeniable.Marcus spread documents across the conference table showing campus petitions, media allegations, SEC filings, acquisition failures. “This is coordination. Three weeks of sustained attack across multiple venues. Someone’s funding and organizing this campaign.”“Nathan Cross,” Joseph said, pulling up financial tracking. “Jim and Jey Grant deposited fifty thousand in cashier’s checks two months ago. YEN received anonymous funding that spiked their budget dramatically. Claudia Grant’s media push uses professional strategy beyond her capability. Cross is the common denominator.”Emily leaned forward, s

Jacy's phone rang at eleven p.m., her mother's number flashing on the screen. She almost didn't answer. Her mother had not spoken with her since the Grant and Claire Corporations deals was disapproved and her engagement to Jerry Stone was annulled by Charlie last year. Somehow, she felt nothing good could come from late-night calls from Claudia."Hello?""Jacy, sweetheart." Claudia's voice dripped false warmth. "We need to talk. Family emergency."Twenty minutes later, Jacy stood in her family's cramped apartment, surrounded by the wreckage of their former life. Her father sat hunched at the table, looking decades older. Jim and Jey flanked the doorway like guards."What's this about?" Jacy asked, keeping her distance.Claudia slid a manila folder across the table. "We need your help. Grant Corporation is three days from bankruptcy. Creditors are circling. Everything we built is dying.""Everything Charlie's mother built," Jacy corrected coldly. "Everything you stole.""That's not fai

An encrypted message reached Joseph White at 4:47 AM Swiss time. George Maxwell’s personal aide, a woman who’d served the family for thirty years, spoke in clipped, urgent tones that made Joseph sit upright in his hotel bed.“Mr. White, Mr. Maxwell needs you immediately. He’s seen something concerning.”Twenty minutes later, Joseph entered George’s private suite at the Geneva clinic. The old man sat in a leather chair by the window, tablet in hand, looking stronger than he had in months. The treatments were working, slowly, painfully, but working.“Tell me this isn’t what it looks like,” George said, turning the screen toward Joseph.The display showed intercepted communications, emails, text messages, meeting notes, carefully documented by Maxwell Corporation’s security team. Perry Stone coordinating with Thomas Wright. The Grants offering patents as leverage. Plans to contact George directly, bypassing Charlie entirely.“It’s a conspiracy,” Joseph confirmed, scanning the evidence. “

The silence that followed was absolute. Not the quiet of a room waiting for more, but the suffocating stillness of a world tilting on its axis. All eyes were fixed on George Maxwell, whose declaration had just shattered the firm’s reality.George’s voice cut through the quiet like a blade. "Charlie Maxwell is not my nor the Maxwell Heir's representative. He is my heir. My only heir. The sole inheritor of the Maxwell fortune."Charlie could see Perry Stone turn gray immediately his grandfather made the announcement. The severity made the folders in his hand drop to the floor with a heavy thud that no one cared to fix. The projector on the wall flickered to life. The first image showed a vibrant young woman with Claire’s intelligent eyes and George’s strong chin, caught laughing at some long-ago garden party. The second photo revealed a boy of about seven, his dark curls falling across his forehead as he concentrated fiercely on a chessboard. The third was of a younger George Maxwell,

The official letter arrived at eight a.m. on a Thursday that would reshape everything. Charlie sat in his office, Marcus beside him, as Joseph White read the SEC’s findings aloud with barely controlled satisfaction.“After extensive investigation into allegations of scholarship fraud by Charles Maxwell, the Securities and Exchange Commission finds no evidence of wrongdoing. The investigation reveals that the anonymous complaint was based on falsified documents, manipulated timelines, and deliberately misleading representations of factual events.”Joseph paused, looking up. “They’re clearing you completely.”Marcus leaned back, exhaling tension he’d carried for weeks. “What about Cross?”Joseph’s smile sharpened. “That’s where it gets interesting.” He turned the page. “The SEC traced the allegations to Nathan Cross and Blackstone Acquisitions. What they found—” He whistled softly. “Massive fraud. Market manipulation. Conspiracy to interfere with competitors. Federal prosecutors filed c