2026-02-22 14:36:43Joshua leaped to his feet, his heart hammering with a mixture of relief and urgency. Three and a half billion dollars. His mother would be saved. Everything would be okay now.
He sprinted down the hallway toward the hospital's front desk, his worn sneakers squeaking against the polished floor. But as he rounded the corner, the scene before him made his blood turn to ice.
His mother—frail, unconscious, still connected to portable monitors—was being dragged out of her ward by three burly nurses. Her hospital bed rolled roughly across the threshold, the wheels catching and jerking.
"Stop!" Joshua's voice echoed through the corridor. "What the hell are you doing?"
The lead nurse, a heavyset woman named Patricia, didn't even look at him. "We're moving her to discharge, Mr. Hart. You've had plenty of time to arrange payment."
"I have the money!" Joshua shouted, running toward them. "I can pay right now! Stop moving her!"
Patricia finally turned, her expression dripping with contempt. The other two nurses—younger women who seemed to take their cues from her—stopped pushing the bed but wore matching smirks.
"Oh, suddenly you have money?" Patricia crossed her arms over her broad chest. "Let me guess—did a miracle happen in the last twenty minutes? Did your fairy godmother appear?"
"I'm serious. I can pay for the surgery. Right now. Just take her back to the ward—"
"Save it." The younger nurse on the left, whose name tag read 'Jennifer,' rolled her eyes dramatically. "We've heard every sob story and excuse in the book. Poor people like you always think you can string us along with lies."
"I'm not lying!" Joshua's hands clenched into fists at his sides. "I have the money. I can transfer it immediately—"
"Transfer it?" Patricia laughed, a harsh, grating sound. "Oh, this is getting better. So now you're claiming you suddenly have one hundred thousand dollars ready to transfer? What did you do, rob a bank on your way back?"
The third nurse, a thin woman with sharp features named Susan, snickered. "More like he's planning to write us a bad check. We're not falling for it, buddy. We won't treat your mother for free anymore. Hospital policy."
"I'm not asking for free treatment!" Joshua's voice cracked with desperation. "I have the money. Just let me pay—"
"Fine." Patricia's eyes glittered with malicious amusement. She pulled out a portable card reader from her pocket, holding it up like a weapon. "Swipe your card right now. One hundred thousand dollars. Let's see this miracle money of yours."
Joshua's hand instinctively went to his wallet, then froze. His stomach dropped.
The card. Natalie had taken his bank card months ago.
The memory came flooding back—Natalie's cold voice in their bedroom: "As a member of the Cavesh household, you don't need personal property. You'll receive a daily allowance from the family account." An allowance that had never materialized. Not once.
"Well?" Patricia tapped her foot impatiently. "We're waiting. Swipe the card."
"I... I don't have my card with me," Joshua said, his mind racing. "But I can do a mobile transfer. Give me the hospital's account information—"
The three nurses burst into laughter.
"A mobile transfer!" Jennifer slapped her thigh, nearly doubled over with mirth. "Oh my God, that's rich. That's the oldest stalling tactic in the book!"
"He probably doesn't even have a bank account," Susan added, her voice dripping with scorn. "Look at him. Look at those clothes. That's a man who's never seen a thousand dollars in his life, let alone a hundred thousand."
"Please." Joshua pulled out his phone, his hands shaking. "Just listen to me. I received a transfer today. I can show you—"
"Show us?" Patricia's eyes narrowed. "Oh, this I've got to see. What are you going to do, show us some photoshopped bank statement?"
Joshua's fingers trembled as he navigated to his messages. He found the text from Star Bank and thrust the phone toward Patricia. "Look. See? The money just came through."
Patricia snatched the phone from his hand, her eyes scanning the screen. Then she read aloud, her voice mocking: "Your account ending in 7742 has received a wire transfer of three billion, five hundred million dollars." She paused, then burst into the loudest laugh yet. "Are you kidding me with this?"
Jennifer and Susan crowded around to see, both erupting into giggles.
"Thirty-five billion dollars?" Susan wheezed between laughs. "You couldn't even make up a realistic number?"
"This is the most pathetic scam I've ever seen," Jennifer added, wiping tears from her eyes. "Did you make this text message yourself? What app did you use? 'Fake Bank Alert Generator'?"
"It's real!" Joshua shouted, snatching his phone back. "I can prove it. Just give me the hospital's payment account. I'll transfer the money right now—"
"Sure, sure." Patricia pulled out a small notepad, scribbling down an account number with exaggerated slowness. "Here. The hospital's billing account. Go ahead and make your imaginary transfer from your imaginary billions."
Joshua's fingers flew across his phone screen, opening his banking app. But his phone—a battered model he'd owned for five years—lagged, the screen freezing.
"Come on," he muttered, tapping harder. "Come on!"
"What's wrong?" Patricia leaned in with mock concern. "Having technical difficulties with your billionaire phone?"
The nurses laughed again.
"Is this what a billionaire's phone looks like?" Jennifer pointed at the cracked screen, the faded case. "Shouldn't you have the latest model? Or is that another thing you forgot to upgrade with your imaginary fortune?"
Joshua ignored them, his entire focus on the frozen screen. He tapped the payment button again and again, but nothing happened. The app had locked up completely.
"This is pathetic," Susan said, shaking her head. "We're wasting time here. Let's finish moving her to discharge."
"No!" Joshua's voice was raw. He jabbed at his phone frantically. "Just wait. It's loading—"
"Give it up," Patricia said, reaching for his phone. "You're just stalling. We're not idiots—"
The screen suddenly flickered to life.
Joshua's thumb hit the confirmation button with desperate force. For a heart-stopping moment, nothing happened. Then the screen changed.
PAYMENT SUCCESSFUL
Recipient: Mercy General Hospital
Status: COMPLETED
The corridor fell silent. Joshua held up his phone, his hand still shaking, showing the confirmation screen to the three nurses. Patricia's face had gone pale, her mouth hanging open. Jennifer and Susan looked like they'd been slapped.
"There," Joshua said, his voice hoarse. "Payment successful. Now take my mother back to her room and prep her for surgery."
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Chapter 352 Part 2
Monica worked through the night in Galaxy's security office, running the phone through decryption software, line by line.Most of the information was encrypted, but she found a recently deleted location that pointed toward a property near one of Galaxy's expansion zones."Most of it's locked tight," she reported to Joshua the next morning, "but I recovered one deleted location. Recent. It points to a property near your northern expansion zone."The discovery suggested the attackers were not only watching Joshua's family.They were also moving into his business territory."They're not just watching your family anymore," Monica said grimly. "They're moving into your business territory."Victoria reached a similar conclusion from another direction.That same morning, Victoria called Joshua directly, her voice carrying the edge of someone who had been awake far too long.While studying property transactions around Galaxy's expansion area, she discovered that several small companies had qu
Chapter 352 Part 1
The next day, in the morning, Joshua took the photograph and the strange ring to Raymond Hale."I need you to look at something," Joshua said, setting a small case on the table in Raymond's study.He did not accuse him immediately. Instead, he placed both items on the table and watched Raymond's reaction.Joshua opened the case, laying the photograph and the ring side by side without a word of explanation, and sat back to watch.The older man became visibly uncomfortable when he saw the symbol.Raymond's face stiffened the moment his eyes landed on the three interlocking lines engraved into the ring's band. His hand, which had been reaching to pick up his tea, stopped halfway.Joshua asked a simple question: where had he seen it before?"Where have you seen this before," Joshua asked quietly.Raymond finally admitted that the symbol belonged to an old business circle connected to Joshua's father."It belongs to an old circle," Raymond said slowly, setting his hands flat on the table a
Chapter 351 Part 2
The fighting tapered off as quickly as it had started, Joshua's trained men overwhelming the remaining attackers one by one, pinning the last of them to the floor.Joshua ordered every exit sealed and instructed his people to search the building for communication equipment, documents, and anything that could reveal who arranged the meeting."Seal every exit," Joshua said, straightening. "Search the building. I want communication devices, documents, anything that tells us who arranged this."One captured man laughed and told Joshua that he was only alive because the people behind the organization wanted him alive.One of the restrained men, blood trickling from a cut above his eyebrow, let out a short, humorless laugh. "You know the only reason you're still breathing is because they want you alive. Don't flatter yourself thinking you walked out of here on your own strength."The man continued mocking Joshua, claiming that powerful people could destroy everything he built whenever they
Chapter 351 Part 1
The armed meeting immediately turned tense after the man revealed that Joshua's father was taken and never abandoned his family.Joshua refused to show fear or shock.He kept his expression carved from the same steady calm he'd carried since entering the room, though something cold had settled behind his eyes.Instead, he demanded the name of the organization responsible and asked who gave the order."Name it," Joshua said. "Give me the organization's name. Who gave the order to take him."The man only revealed that Joshua's father discovered something powerful enough to frighten influential people and that several families, companies, and institutions were involved."Your father discovered something," the man said evenly, "powerful enough to frighten men who don't frighten easily. Families, companies, institutions, all of them touched it in some way. That's as much as I'll give you tonight."Before Joshua could force him to explain further, one of the armed men suddenly attacked the
Chapter 350 Part 2
Joshua immediately used the discovery to set a trap."Monica," Joshua said, calling her into his study, "I want to leak something. Carefully."He allowed selected information about the foundation and his father's investigation to leak through a channel he knew Damien's people were monitoring."Route this through the channel we know Damien's people are watching," Joshua instructed, sliding a prepared document across the desk. "Partial information. Enough to be tempting."He made it appear as though he had discovered the location of an important financial record."Make it look like I've found the location of a significant financial record connected to the foundation," Joshua continued. "Something worth moving for."Within hours, someone took the bait.By midnight, Monica returned with a report. "Joshua, someone's already moving. Fast."Joshua tracked the movement and followed it to a private meeting place where one of the hidden network's senior figures was expected to appear."Where,"
Chapter 350 Part 1
The next morning, the divorce reached another critical stage."I want this finished today," Natalie said, slamming a folder down on the conference table before everyone had even taken their seats. "No more delays."Natalie refused to accept another delay and made it clear that she wanted the matter finished immediately."Every time we're close to a resolution," Natalie continued, "something else gets introduced. Another document, another contradiction, another excuse to prolong this."She accused him of using his growing power to avoid giving her the freedom she wanted, while Joshua reminded her that he had never been the one delaying the process."You're using your power to drag this out," Natalie said, glaring across the table. "Keeping me tied to you just to prove you can.""I've never been the one delaying this," Joshua said evenly. "Every postponement on record came from your legal team, Natalie. Check the dates yourself."Natalie became angry and told him that despite everything
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finally it worked!