All Chapters of The Return of the Campus Trillionaire: Chapter 261
- Chapter 270
301 chapters
CHAPTER 261
Morning arrived quietly.The first traces of sunlight slipped through the towering glass walls of the penthouse, casting pale gold reflections across the room and stretching over the untouched silence that had settled there during the night. Los Angeles was already awake beneath them, distant traffic humming far below, but inside the bedroom, everything remained still.Jared opened his eyes slowly.For a brief moment, he didn’t move. His thoughts were slow to catch up, dulled by exhaustion rather than rest, and the events of the previous night returned in fragments—market crashes, system breaches, the accusation video, endless pressure tightening around him from every direction.Then he felt warmth against him.His gaze lowered slightly.Becky.She was still asleep in his arms.Jared stilled completely.One of his arms rested around her waist beneath the blanket while her head remained tucked lightly against his chest, her breathing calm and even in a way that felt almost unfamiliar af
CHAPTER 262
The words lingered between them longer than either of them expected.“Thank you.”Becky’s eyes remained on Jared for a moment after he said it, and the sincerity in his voice unsettled her more than she wanted to admit. Jared Diamond was rarely vulnerable, even in private. Most of the time, his gratitude came wrapped in composure, hidden beneath confidence or restraint.This had been different.Quiet. Honest.She looked away first.“You don’t have to make it sound so serious,” she murmured softly, adjusting the blanket slightly over her lap as if the movement would settle the sudden tension building in the room. “I just came to check on you.”Jared leaned back against the headboard, though his eyes stayed on her. “You stayed the night.”Becky’s cheeks warmed faintly again. “I didn’t plan to.”“But you stayed,” he repeated calmly.The corner of her lips twitched briefly before fading again. “You make it sound like I signed some life-changing contract.”Jared almost smiled at that, but
CHAPTER 263
The ringtone continued cutting through the silence until Jared finally reached for the phone resting beside him on the bed.Becky shifted slightly away as he picked it up, the awkward tension from moments earlier still lingering faintly between them. Jared glanced at the screen briefly before answering immediately, his tone returning to business almost instinctively.“What is it?”The voice on the other end spoke quickly, urgent enough for Becky to notice the immediate change in Jared’s expression.His posture straightened.“When?” he asked sharply.A pause.Then his eyes narrowed slightly.“You’re sure?”Becky watched him carefully as he swung his legs off the bed, every trace of quiet exhaustion from earlier suddenly replaced by focus.“Keep everything isolated,” he said firmly into the phone. “Don’t move on it until I get there.”Another pause followed before Jared finally replied with a short, “I’m on my way.”The call ended.Becky blinked. “What happened?”Jared turned toward her
CHAPTER 264
The ride to Diamond Global Headquarters felt completely different from the quiet warmth that had existed inside the penthouse less than an hour ago.Jared sat beside Becky in the backseat of the black armored sedan, his attention fixed entirely on the tablet resting in his hands while streams of encrypted reports scrolled across the screen. The softness from earlier had disappeared so quickly it almost felt unreal now. His jaw remained tense, his eyes sharp and focused in a way Becky had not seen in weeks.Or maybe she simply had not noticed it before.Outside, Los Angeles blurred past the tinted windows beneath the pale morning light, but inside the car, the atmosphere had turned cold and businesslike.Becky glanced toward him carefully. “You still think this lead is real?”Jared barely looked up. “If Ethan called me directly, then yes.”“The head of cybersecurity?”Jared nodded once. “He doesn’t panic easily.”That answer alone unsettled her.She had met Ethan Ross only twice before
CHAPTER 265
The atmosphere inside Diamond Global changed before noon.It started quietly with a few notifications, several trending tags and a spike in traffic across entertainment and financial media platforms.Then everything detonated at once.By the time Jared stepped out of the executive conference room after three straight hours of internal investigations, the situation outside had already spiraled beyond containment.“Sir,” one of the communications directors called urgently as Jared walked down the corridor, “you need to see this immediately.”Jared barely slowed his pace. “What now?”The woman nervously handed him a tablet. “Another video just dropped.”Becky, who had remained nearby throughout the morning, saw Jared’s eyes darken almost instantly the moment the footage began playing.The video showed a young brunette sitting in a dimly lit room, visibly emotional as she spoke toward the camera.“I stayed quiet because I was scared,” the girl said shakily. “People like Jared Diamond thin
CHAPTER 266
The internet found Becky before lunchtime.At first, it started with speculation.A blurry image posted anonymously on a gossip account showed a woman stepping out of Jared Diamond’s penthouse elevator lobby early that morning. The photo alone might not have meant much if another image had not surfaced minutes later—Becky entering Jared’s armored sedan outside Diamond Global headquarters.Then came the third photo.Becky standing beside Jared inside the executive floor lobby, her face clear enough this time for anyone from Los Angeles University to recognize her instantly.The reaction online became vicious within minutes.“She moved fast.”“So she’s the secret girlfriend?”“Gold digger secured the billionaire.”“Another girl about to accuse him in three… two…”“Imagine defending a predator for money.”By early afternoon, Becky’s name was trending alongside Jared’s.Inside Diamond Global headquarters, Becky sat frozen in one of the private executive lounges, staring at her phone while
CHAPTER 267
The message changed everything.For several long seconds, neither Jared nor Becky spoke after reading the anonymous threat on her phone. The private lounge suddenly felt smaller, the silence heavier now that fear had entered the room directly instead of existing somewhere outside in the chaos of the media storm.Becky lowered the phone slowly. “This isn’t normal anymore.”Jared’s expression hardened instantly. “No. It isn’t.”He held out his hand calmly. “Let me see it.”Becky passed him the phone without hesitation. Jared studied the message carefully, his eyes narrowing slightly as he checked the metadata, sender routing, and encrypted relay attached to the anonymous account.Clean.“They bounced it through layered relays,” he muttered quietly. “Professional masking.”Becky crossed her arms tightly. “So whoever sent it knows where I am?”Jared looked up immediately. “Nobody’s touching you.”The firmness in his voice should have reassured her. Instead, it made the danger feel more re
CHAPTER 268
The emergency board meeting lasted nearly three hours.By the end of it, Jared felt more exhausted than he had after any financial war, media attack, or public scandal he had faced since returning to Los Angeles University.Because this time the pressure had not come from enemies. It had come from his own people.The executive conference hall on the upper floor of Diamond Global remained heavy with tension long after the meeting officially ended. Board members stood in small groups near the windows, speaking in low voices while legal teams moved rapidly between offices carrying stacks of reports and damage assessments.Nobody looked calm anymore.The second accusation video had detonated across every major platform overnight. Shareholders were panicking. International media outlets were now openly questioning whether Jared Diamond should continue leading public-facing operations within the company while under investigation.And worst of all, the market was reacting emotionally instead
CHAPTER 269
The photograph refused to leave Jared’s mind.Even after midnight, long after the lights across most of Diamond Global headquarters had gone dark, the image still sat open on the massive screen inside his penthouse office. Howard Diamond stood beside the scratched-out figure with one arm resting casually over the man’s shoulder, both of them younger, hungrier, standing before a half-finished construction project that had eventually become one of the first Diamond developments in Los Angeles.The Stone family.Jared leaned back slowly in his chair, exhaustion pressing heavily against him while the city glowed far below the penthouse windows. His phone rested beside the keyboard, dozens of unread reports continuing to arrive every few minutes.Another four percent stock decline in after-hours trading.Two more sponsors suspending negotiations.Media outlets preparing fresh coverage for the morning cycle.And somewhere inside all of it, somebody was still watching him.The silence inside
CHAPTER 270
Jared left the penthouse office without saying another word to his father.The tension from the argument still burned heavily inside him as he stepped into the private elevator, his jaw tight while Howard remained standing near the windows behind him in silence. The doors slid shut between them smoothly, cutting off the view of the office, but not the frustration sitting inside Jared’s chest.Victor Stone.That was all he had gotten after nearly an hour of pushing for answers.Not explanations.Not the truth.Just a name.The elevator descended quietly through the tower while Jared loosened the knot of his tie with visible irritation. Every instinct told him Howard was hiding far more than he admitted, and what angered Jared most was the timing of it all. Their company was under attack from every direction possible, his reputation was collapsing publicly, people close to him were being threatened, yet Howard still approached the situation like a man protecting old secrets instead of s