All Chapters of Wealth Ascension System : Chapter 91
- Chapter 100
146 chapters
Chapter 91
Claire was waiting for him when he came out of the conference room. She was leaning against the wall near the coffee station, arms crossed, her expression unreadable. She had been there the whole time, probably from the moment Andrew walked in. The door wasn't soundproof. She would have heard everything. The signatures, the threats, the quiet hatred between two brothers who used to share a last name and now shared a company. Ethan stopped when he saw her. "How much of that did you catch?" he asked. "Enough." She pushed off the wall and fell into step beside him as he walked toward his desk. "You're forty percent owner of Cross Industries now." "Apparently." "You didn't think to mention this before the lawyers showed up?" Ethan sat down. The chair creaked under him. He hadn't noticed that sound before, but now it seemed loud in the quiet office. "I'm mentioning it now." Claire stood across from him, not sitting. Her arms were still crossed. Her weight was shifted to on
Chapter 92
The conference room was cold. Ethan had arrived early, made coffee, set out the financial reports Adrian had sent over the night before. The numbers were spread across the table in front of him, page after page of expenditures and projections and line items that didn't quite add up. He had been staring at them for twenty minutes before Claire walked in. She was still wearing the same guarded expression from yesterday. She didn't say good morning. Just pulled out a chair and sat down across from him. "Adrian's running late," she said. "Traffic." Ethan nodded. Seraphina came in a moment later, carrying a tablet and a leather folder. She looked better than she had the day before, less pale, but there was a tightness around her eyes that hadn't been there before the sick days. She sat at the end of the table, between them, and opened her folder. "Let's start without him," she said. "I can walk you through what we found." Claire looked at her. "You found something?" Seraphina pull
Chapter 93
The meeting with Andrew was set for eleven.Ethan arrived at the office at nine, earlier than he needed to, because sleeping had been useless. He had spent the night turning over the conversation with Claire, the financial discrepancies, the way Adrian had looked at the highlighted sheet like he was reading something he already knew. Coffee helped. But it wasn't enough.Claire came in at ten thirty. She was dressed for battle. Black blazer, hair pulled back, the expression she wore when she was about to walk into a room where she expected to be underestimated."You look like you're going to a funeral," Ethan said."Maybe I am."She sat down at her desk and pulled up documents on her screen. Cross Industries profiles. Andrew's recent deals. The partnership agreement Ethan had signed three days ago. She had been studying since last night."You read everything?" Ethan asked."I read everything. Twice. There are gaps.""Gaps how?"Claire turned her screen toward him. "Here. And here. And
Chapter 94
They found Adrian at a café near his apartment.Not the one he usually went to with Claire. A different one. Smaller. Quieter. The kind of place where no one would think to look for him. He was sitting in the back corner with a laptop open and a cup of coffee going cold beside it, and when he looked up and saw Ethan and Claire walking toward him, his face did something complicated. Surprise. Calculation. The quick rearrangement of features into something that looked like welcome."Claire," he said, standing. "Ethan. What are you doing here?""We need to talk," Ethan said.Adrian looked at Claire. She wasn't smiling. He sat back down."Okay," he said. "Talk."Ethan pulled out the chair across from Adrian and sat. Claire sat next to him, close enough that their shoulders almost touched. She had her hands folded on the table in front of her, fingers laced together like she was holding herself in place."We've been reviewing the phase one expenditures," Ethan said. "Seraphina found a patt
Chapter 95
The restaurant was Chloe's choice.She had picked it weeks ago, sent him the link, circled the reservation time on her calendar. It was the kind of place with white tablecloths and waiters who poured water without being asked and a wine list thicker than most books. Ethan had been here before, with investors, with clients, never with someone he was supposed to be romantically involved with.Chloe looked across the table at him. She was wearing a red dress, the one she knew he liked, and her hair was down the way he had mentioned once in passing. She had remembered. She always remembered."Ethan.""Yeah.""I asked you a question."He blinked. "Sorry. What?"She set her fork down. "My parents. They want to meet yours. I was thinking we could all do dinner together. Nothing formal. Just a get to know you thing."Ethan picked up his glass and took a sip. "Your parents want to meet my parents.""They've been asking for weeks. My mother keeps bringing it up." Chloe tilted her head. "Why do
Chapter 96
Ethan's car was still warm when he pulled into the hospital parking lot. He didn't remember the drive. Red lights, turns, the city disappearing behind him—none of it stuck. Only the image of Claire on a hospital bed, tubes in her arms, her face pale and still.He parked badly, didn't bother to straighten the wheels, and walked fast through the emergency entrance.The fluorescent lights were too bright. The air smelled of antiseptic and fear. He found the reception desk and gave Claire's name and the nurse pointed him to the surgical waiting area on the third floor.The elevator took forever.When the doors opened, he saw Adrian.He was sitting in a plastic chair against the wall, elbows on his knees, head down. A half-empty cup of coffee sat on the floor beside him. He looked up when he heard footsteps, and something in his face shifted. Not surprise. Recognition."Ethan.""What happened."Adrian stood up. "She collapsed at her desk. Around two. I heard something fall and went to chec
Chapter 97
The hours passed. The sky lightened. The city woke up around him.At six, he went back inside.The waiting room was the same. Beige walls. Dusty plant. The magazines hadn't moved.Adrian was still there. He looked like he hadn't slept. His shirt was wrinkled. His eyes were red."Any change?" Ethan asked."She woke up about an hour ago. They ran more tests. She's weak, but she's talking.""Can I see her?"Adrian nodded. "They said she can have visitors now."Ethan walked to the door. His hand was on the handle when Adrian spoke again."Ethan."He turned."Whatever happened between you two, whatever's still happening—don't bring it in there. She needs rest. Not drama."Ethan looked at him. "I know how to be in a room with Claire."Adrian said nothing.Ethan opened the door and walked in.---The room was small. Machines beeped. The blinds were half-drawn, letting in strips of grey morning light.Claire was in the bed, propped up on pillows, her face pale against the white sheets. An IV
Chapter 98
Claire was awake when the doctor came in. Pale, tired, but her eyes were clear. Ethan had moved his chair closer to the bed during the night, and he was still there when she opened her eyes. She looked at him like she was surprised to see him still in the room."You're here," she said."I said I would stay."She didn't smile, but something in her face softened. The monitor beeped steadily. The morning light through the blinds made everything look washed out, like an old photograph.The doctor was a woman in her forties with kind eyes and a clipboard. She introduced herself as Dr. Patel. She looked at Claire's chart and then at both of them."The tests came back. It's not appendicitis."Claire's brow furrowed. "Then what is it?"Dr. Patel hesitated. That hesitation lasted maybe two seconds, but Ethan noticed it. He had been in enough business meetings to recognize when someone was choosing their next words carefully."We found traces of something in your blood. A substance that shouldn
Chapter 99
Ethan was halfway down the hospital corridor when his phone rang.Andrew's name on the screen. He almost ignored it. The past forty-eight hours had squeezed everything out of him, and the last thing he wanted was a conversation with his brother. But Andrew never called unless it mattered.He stepped into an empty waiting area and answered."What.""Good afternoon to you too." Andrew's voice was crisp, professional, the same tone he used in boardrooms. "I need you at the Cross Industries Foundation Gala tonight. It's in four hours.""I'm not going to a gala.""You are. The foundation is announcing the new partnership structure, and you're forty percent of that structure. Your absence would be noticed."Ethan pressed his free hand against the wall. "My ex-wife is in the hospital.""I heard. And I'm sorry. But the gala has been planned for months. The donors expect to see both Cross sons in the same room. It's optics, Ethan. That's all.""I don't care about optics.""You should. Because
Chapter 100
The gala was in full swing by the time Ethan stopped pretending to enjoy it.Chloe had drifted toward the bar, chatting with a woman who worked in commercial real estate. Andrew was working the room like a politician, shaking hands, laughing at jokes that weren't funny, steering conversations toward the partnership and the foundation and the bright future of Cross Industries. Every few minutes he glanced at Ethan, checking that his prop was still in position.Ethan stood near a pillar with a glass of champagne he hadn't touched in an hour and watched his brother perform.A man in a silver suit approached. Older, sixties, with the confident posture of someone who had been wealthy long enough to forget what it felt like to worry about money."Mr. Cross," the man said. "Andrew tells me you're coming back to the family business."Ethan looked at him. "I own forty percent.""Forty percent of a company that's about to double in value, if the whispers are correct." The man smiled. "I've been