Now You Beg Me

Chapter 5. Poison Coated in Honey

“How can thousands of tons of our steel be held at the port?”

Robert Sterling’s voice did not rise, but the chill in his tone was enough to suffocate the room.

Shipping documents were scattered across his mahogany desk. The middle-aged man leaned back, exhaling sharply as his eyes locked onto the young man across from him.

Liam said nothing. He lowered his gaze to the marble floor, his fingers unconsciously brushing the edge of his collar, which suddenly felt too tight.

“Last night you said the logistics were handled,” Robert pressed. He threw a red folder across the desk. It slid and fell to the floor. “Explain.”

“Customs is holding the permit. They suddenly demanded documents with an official wet stamp from the ministry,” Liam replied, forcing his voice to remain steady. “I met the port chief this morning and offered a cash compensation. He refused.”

Robert let out a dry laugh, empty of humor.

“Of course he refused. Do you think bribing a high-level bureaucrat is the same as tipping a waiter?” He slammed the desk once, the sound sharp and echoing.

“Investors are ready to pull their funds by noon if that steel does not move. Our apartment project could collapse.”

Liam fell silent. He rubbed his face in frustration, his mind hitting a wall against the sudden maze of bureaucracy.

“Ethan never needed more than three hours for something like this,” Robert muttered flatly.

His gaze did not leave the monitor at the corner of his desk. “He always knew how to talk to the port people.”

Liam’s jaw tightened instantly. “Do not mention that bastard’s name in front of me,” he hissed. “I can handle this far more cleanly than he ever did.”

“Oh, really?” Robert gestured toward the monitor with his chin. “The market opened an hour ago, and our stock is in free fall. So tell me, what is your brilliant next move?”

Robert turned to the television in the corner. Red graphs plunged mercilessly, losses updating every second. The market was reacting to the panic over their materials being stalled at the port.

“We need fifty million dollars, today, to calm the market,” Robert said, dropping back into his chair. “And not a single local bank is willing to release that kind of emergency fund within twenty-four hours.”

The corner of Liam’s lips twitched faintly. He reached inside his jacket, pulled out a tablet, and slid it slowly across the desk.

“There is a foreign investment firm that contacted us this morning,” Liam said calmly.

Robert shifted his gaze from the television, raising an eyebrow at his son.

“Helios Global Capital,” Liam continued before Robert could ask. “They are looking for a strategic partner here. A bailout loan, without complicated audit procedures.”

Robert took the tablet, his eyes scanning the digital contract draft on the screen. The tension in his shoulders eased slightly.

“One hundred million dollars,” he murmured. “Released today? With interest this low for instant funds?”

“This is our way out,” Liam said, leaning forward.

“We fix the port issue, keep the project moving, and by tomorrow morning our stock will be green again.”

Robert’s gaze stopped at the bottom of the contract.

“The collateral…” He tapped the screen. “The family house certificate? And temporary holding of fifty percent of our core shares?”

“Standard procedure for foreign investors,” Liam dismissed quickly. “We pay it off next month once apartment payments come in. All of that collateral will be returned without issue.”

Robert fell silent. His eyes moved from the tablet to the television screen, staring at the plunging stock graph as if it were mocking his pride. The thought of a stalled mega project and the collapse of his company slowly suffocated what remained of his reason.

“Did you check their track record?”

“Our legal team ran a rapid check,” Liam answered without hesitation.

“They are major players in Europe.”

A rough breath escaped Robert before he finally picked up the digital pen. With one swift stroke across the screen, his signature was sealed.

“We are safe for today,” Robert said, leaning back and closing his eyes.

Across the desk, Liam held back a smile. In his mind, he was already calculating how much of that hundred million he could divert into his personal accounts tonight. He felt victorious.

Robert felt his company was secure. Neither of them realized who they had just made a deal with.

A faint scent of green tea lingered in the air. On the eighty-eighth floor of Apex Tower, silence dominated the room. Morning sunlight reflected coldly across the black marble floor.

Behind his large desk, Ethan sat back. The fever that had gripped him the night before seemed nonexistent. He sipped his tea slowly, his eyes fixed on the monitor.

To his right, Victoria stood straight, holding a tablet.

“Robert Sterling’s digital signature has just been validated by the system,” Victoria reported, breaking the silence.

Ethan set his cup onto its saucer, his eyes scanning the contract copy under the name Helios Global Capital.

“They took the bait,” Ethan murmured, the corner of his lips lifting slightly.

“One hundred million dollars has been transferred into Sterling Group’s account,” Victoria said with a faint smile as she adjusted the tablet screen.

“How long will the money last?”

“At most twenty-four hours. The port authority will demand immediate payment today, and the rest will be fought over by contractors who have been panicking since the market opened.”

Ethan nodded slowly. “Good. Once their cash dries up again tomorrow afternoon, seize the collateral. Make sure the bankruptcy filing and the order to confiscate the Sterling family house are on my desk tomorrow morning.”

“All documents are ready. They have no legal ground to fight back,” Victoria replied calmly.

Ethan leaned back. His plan was flawless. He had just thrown a lifeline to the Sterling family, not to pull them up, but to let them hang themselves.

“We are done for the morning session,” Ethan said, moving the mouse, preparing to close the program window.

Before the cursor reached the corner of the screen, the display suddenly flickered. The interface shifted into a blazing red. Lines of unfamiliar warning code spread rapidly, consuming the entire screen.

The red glow swallowed the calm of the monitor. Streams of foreign binary crawled fast, forming a distorted silhouette at the center.

A second later, the system alarm blared sharply, triggering the room lights to flicker dimly.

Ethan shot upright. The sudden movement sent a sharp pulse through his head. The remnants of last night’s fever still clung to him, blurring his vision as he stared at the wild code flooding the monitor. His fingers trembled as he struck the keyboard, trying to cut off terminal access.

Nothing. The screen froze.

“Intrusion?” Victoria asked, rushing toward the desk.

Ethan swallowed hard, his throat burning. “They are in.”

“Impossible. Our encryption…”

“Broken,” Ethan cut in.

Cold sweat trickled down his temple, stinging the bruise along his jaw.

Victoria did not hesitate. She threw her tablet onto the desk, rushed to the corner of the room, and yanked the main router cable.

“The Northern Consortium?” she asked, breath quick.

“Not their style,” Ethan muttered. He pressed his fingers against the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes briefly to steady the dizziness. When he opened them again, his gaze swept over the remaining logs on the now-dead screen, searching for the entry point.

His focus locked onto a single anomaly. His eyes narrowed.

“The Helios transaction path… They piggybacked on the fund transfer we just sent to Sterling.”

The realization hit him hard. He was not the one setting the trap.

He was the one who had taken the bait. Someone knew he was targeting the Sterling family, and they had used Robert’s downfall as a backdoor to breach his servers.

The cursor suddenly stopped struggling. Every warning window closed at once, leaving behind a pitch-black screen.

A single line of white text appeared slowly.

Someone was typing it in real time, deliberately slow, mocking.

Nice move, Ethan. But you are not the only hunter at this table.

Ethan went still. He did not touch the keyboard again.

In the cold room, he finally understood one thing.

Someone had just flipped his chessboard.