Chapter One-Hundred and Ninety-TwoLina stood completely frozen behind her desk with her fountain pen slipping from her fingers and rolling across the polished paper stared at the untouchable crown prince of the city's highest empire groveling before her like a low-tier servant. Her brain was completely short-circuited. “Young... Young Master Gerald? Please, stand up! Seraphina didn't do anything wrong! She was just... she was just worried about me.”Hearing this, Gerald felt a massive wave of relief wash through his chest, but he still didn't dare straighten his back. He whipped his head around, his bloodshot eyes glaring fiercely at his Seraphina.“Seraphina! You brainless, short-sighted girl!” Gerald roared, his voice shaking the glass windows. “Are you blind?! Miss Lina’s household is the ultimate savior of our entire Moore lineage! Grandfather’s heart was brought back from the absolute gates of death last night solely because of the divine medicine provided by Master Vale’s anci

Chapter One-Hundred and Ninety-Four“You ungrateful brat!” Martha’s face instantly distorted into an ugly, venomous rage. “I raised you! I gave you everything! Now that you’ve struck gold, you want to leave your own mother out in the cold?! I am telling you right now, Lina—either you hand over the management of those bank accounts to the family collective tomorrow morning, or I will call your uncles, your aunts, and the grand matriarch of the estate! We will use ancestral family law to strip you of your position!”Lina shook with pure, helpless frustration, tears of shock gathering in her eyes at her mother's absolute, shameless greed.In the background, Adrian quietly laid his kitchen knife down on the wooden cutting board with a soft, hollow thud.He adjusted the cuffs of his faded twenty-dollar jacket, a faint, chillingly amused smile touching the very edge of his lips. The stage was set perfectly. The greedy parasites of the secondary family council were finally crawling out of th

Chapter One-Hundred and Ninety-sixLina turned back to the head of the table, her jaw tightening as she looked straight into the cold, greedy eyes of the grand matriarch.“Grandmother, I will never sign this paper!” Lina declared, her voice ringing through the grand hall with an absolute, immovable strength. “The Moore Syndicate explicitly handed the northern port lines to me, Lina. They did not hand them to the family collective, and they certainly did not hand them to a useless playboy like Collins! If I transfer these assets behind Director Geralds back, it will be a breach of contract! I am standing my ground!”“You insolent, rebellious brat!” Old Grandma violently slammed her silver cane against the floorboards, her wrinkled face distorting into an ugly, venomous rage. “How dare you defy my absolute decree! Do you really think you’re a big shot because of some lucky coincidence? Your useless husband Adrian claimed he used up some ancient miracle pill from a dead mountain doctor t

Chapter One-Hundred and Ninety-Seven“You don't understand?!” Director Gerald screamed, his voice rising into a panicked, frantic register that sounded completely hysterical. “Who gave you the right to touch that contract?! Who gave your pathetic, secondary-branch family the authority to alter a single comma of a sovereign decree issued by Lord Harrison Moore himself?!”Director Gerald slammed his fist onto his desk, the sound echoing like a gunshot through the grand hall. He was scared of his fathers reaction when he heard about this, instead he made sure he crushed these peasants completely before anything that might point towards him.“Listen to me very carefully, Collins Andrew, whatever your name is I don't care! The Moore Syndicate did not sign a contract with your greedy, parasitic family collective! We signed a contract exclusively with Director Lina Andrews because of her unparalleled, independent corporate merits! If her name is altered by even a single millimeter, or if you

Chapter Two Hundred“It’s done…” Old Mrs. Andrews whispered, her voice sounding incredibly fragile and old as she slid the stamped document across the table. She looked up at Lina with wide, bloodshot eyes full of desperate begging. “Lina, everything is finalized. We have stripped ourselves of all authority. Please… save the house.”Lina looked at the signed waiver, her chest rising and falling with a profound wave of emotion. She felt an incredible, overwhelming sense of victory. For three long years, these very relatives had looked down on her, humiliated her, and tried to dictate her life. Now, they had signed away their own power just to survive under her shadow.She turned to look at Adrian.Adrian gave her a calm, reassuring nod, his posture relaxed and slouched. “Go ahead, Lina. Give Director Gerald a call. Tell him the family has completely corrected their corporate discipline.”Lina breathed out a long, shaky sigh, pulled out her phone, and dialed Director Vance’s direct line