God of Restitution : Zero to Sovereign

Chapter 6: The Threatened Empire

The loud ring of the smartphone cut through the tense air of the hotel hallway.

Julian’s heavy fist stopped just an inch away from Leo’s face. He glared at Leo, his breathing heavy with anger. He pulled his hand back slowly and reached into his silk robe to grab the phone.

When he looked at the screen, his angry expression instantly changed into one of deep respect. The caller ID showed the word Father.

Julian cleared his throat and quickly tapped the screen to answer the call. He put the phone to his ear, leaning back with his usual arrogant smile.

“Hey, Father,” Julian said, trying to sound smooth and confident. “I am just handling a dirty cockroach at the hotel right now. Is everything okay at the main office?”

“Julian, you stupid boy, answer me right now!” a voice screamed from the speaker.

The voice was so loud and full of pure terror that even Chloe could hear it from where she stood. It was Thomas Vance, the powerful head of the Vance Real Estate Group. But right now, he did not sound powerful at all. He sounded like a man whose house was burning down.

Julian froze. His arrogant smile vanished from his face. “Father? What is wrong? Why are you shouting?”

“We are ruined, Julian!” Thomas screamed, his voice cracking with immense panic. “Our massive city center commercial project, the one we spent hundreds of millions of dollars on, has just been completely frozen!”

Julian’s face turned pale. His knees trembled slightly under his silk robe. He clutched the phone tighter against his ear.

“Frozen? How is that possible?” Julian stammered, his voice shaking. “We have all the government permits, Father. Nobody in this province has the power to freeze our projects overnight.”

“It was not the local government, you fool!” Thomas roared through the phone. “An official decree just arrived at our corporate headquarters ten minutes ago. It came directly from the highest command of the Dragon Vanguard! They have locked down our construction sites, frozen our corporate bank accounts, and sealed all our building materials!”

Julian felt like a bucket of ice water had been poured over his head. The Dragon Vanguard was the most feared and powerful organization in the country. They held absolute military and economic power. If they decided to crush a business, that business would disappear from the earth in a single day.

“Father, please calm down,” Julian pleaded, sweat breaking out on his forehead. “There must be a mistake. Why would the great Dragon Vanguard care about our family company? We have never done anything to offend them.”

“I do not know why!” Thomas yelled back, sounding completely desperate. “But the notification says our family is banned from doing any business in this region due to high security violations. If we cannot secure the upcoming multi-billion dollar Vanguard construction contract at the grand gala tomorrow night, our company will go completely bankrupt by Monday morning! We will lose everything! We will be beggars on the street!”

Julian’s heart hammered wildly against his ribs. He looked at the white carpet, his mind spinning in pure terror. Bankruptcy? Losing his luxury sports cars? Losing his status as the wealthiest heir in the province?

The mere thought of becoming poor made him want to vomit. He had spent his whole life looking down on poor people, and now he was facing the exact same fate.

“Do something, Julian!” Thomas commanded, weeping openly over the line. “Use your connections! Find out who we offended! I am heading to the Vanguard office right now to beg on my knees! You need to prepare yourself for the gala!”

The line went completely dead.

Julian slowly lowered his hand, his face completely white like a sheet of paper. His hand was shaking so badly that the expensive smartphone slid from his fingers and dropped onto the floor, right next to the puddle of spilled wine and crushed caviar.

Chloe looked at Julian, her heart sinking. She had just dumped Leo to climb onto a billionaire prince. She could not let her new ticket to high society lose his wealth.

“Honey, what happened?” she asked, her voice full of worry as she grabbed Julian’s trembling arm. “What did your father say? Who is this Dragon Vanguard? They cannot really ruin us, right?”

Julian did not answer her. He was too busy staring into space, his mind trapped in absolute horror. He could not understand why a supreme force like the Dragon Vanguard would suddenly move its giant hand to crush his family.

Leo stood in the exact same spot, completely unmoved. He looked at Julian’s terrified face with total coldness. Inside his mind, Leo knew exactly why this was happening. Logan had executed his orders flawlessly. This was just the very first step of the payback.

Chloe looked away from Julian and noticed Leo still standing there. Seeing Leo’s calm, silent face made her feel incredibly irritated. She assumed Leo was secretly happy to see them in trouble.

“Get this trash out of here, Julian has real business to handle!”