2026-07-09 21:28:50
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
Chapter 20
Her thoughts crashed over one another, frantic and bright and merciless."Could that be why he kept calling?Could that be why he said his mother wanted to see me? Could that be what Helen meant to leave behind? And I didn't go."because Jade told her it wasn't important.Because she had decided Ethan did not deserve relevance anymore.Because she had been at a party watching a horse give birth.A horse.The thought struck her with such force it almost felt like physical pain.Arthur Hargrove had already offered five billion for twenty percent.And then Nine for ten .And if a man like him was willing to chase this that hard, then the true value was far above the number being spoken aloud.Far above.This wasn't a product line.This was a throne.Something that could lift a company, a family, an entire bloodline out of ordinary wealth and into something else entirely. The kind of thing people fought wars over in old stories. The kind of thing that changed who was allowed into rooms fo
Chapter 19
At that moment Chairman Hargrove held Mia's gaze for a beat longer, then continued in the same calm tone, as if he were simply filling in a detail he assumed everyone in the room already understood.“Yes,” he said. “I can see why that would surprise you. But I knew someone connected to this house was at that hospital yesterday. More than that—I had reason to believe it was you.”His eyes remained on Mia.“I found only a fragment of the formula in the room. Burned. Charred almost beyond use. But it had not been destroyed completely, and what remained was enough.” He paused. “The room I entered was one tied directly to your name.”Karen reacted at once.“With all due respect, Chairman,” she said sharply, taking a step forward as if the correction physically could not wait, “none of us were at any hospital yesterday. I can say that with complete certainty. Not one member of this family was in a hospital room yesterday. There must be some kind of mistake.”Derek immediately latched onto
Chapter 18
Mia stared at her.Then she said, in a quieter voice, “You heard what Mr. Graves said. You heard how he said it. From the sound of it, the formula doesn't belong to us. It belongs to Ethan's mother. Or Ethan. Maybe both. I don't even know for sure. And if Ethan has it now—”Karen cut in immediately. “If. If. If.”“And what if he doesn't?” Mia pressed. “What if we agree to something we cannot produce? What if the chairman asks for proof tomorrow? What if he wants documentation? Samples? Testing data? You don't play games with someone like him. One phone call from Arthur Hargrove could drag us through the ground so fast we wouldn't have time to scream.”Karen's mouth tightened.For all her greed, she was not foolish enough to dismiss that entirely.Still, greed was louder.“What if,” Karen said, lowering her voice even further now, “he's not talking about something Ethan took at all?”Mia frowned, Karen leaned closer.“What if he's talking about something already here?”Mia said nothin
Chapter 17
The words "Eight billion dollars" had barely settled in the air before Karen moved.She had not planned to stand. If anyone had asked her later, she would have insisted that she had meant to remain calm, composed, dignified. But her body betrayed her before her mind could catch up. She rose so abruptly from the sofa that the teacup beside her rattled against the saucer.For a brief moment, it looked as though she might actually speak over Mia.However Mia beat her to it.“I'm sorry,” Mia said, more firmly this time, holding Chairman Hargrove's gaze with obvious effort. “But the truth is, we do not have the formula. I am not going to lie to you because of how generous your offer is. I'm not going to mislead you. We don't have it. That part is the truth.”Silence followed, not stunned silence this time.Tense silence.The kind that made Derek's jaw tighten.The kind that made Jade's expression flash with open frustration.Because to both of them, this no longer sounded like honesty.It
Chapter 16
That got them in a different way.Because even to people with no real understanding of the scale of top-level investment, that number sounded enormous.Seven billion for twenty percent.Not thirty, not forty, twenty.The room somehow became even quieter.Jade looked like she might faint.Derek no longer looked smug. He looked dazed.Karen's mind had visibly gone somewhere far ahead social circles, magazine covers, industry gossip, national prestige, the Sutton name elevated beyond anything she had ever dreamed when she first pushed Mia to marry into convenience and ambition.And Mia—Mia sat there in the center of it all and felt something very close to panic trying to slide in behind her ribs.Because the more generous his terms became, the more terrible the truth underneath them felt.If she accepted, she had nothing to show, If she lied, the lie would collapse, If she delayed, he might press harder.And if she told him the truth—that the formula was not here, that the man who might
Chapter 15
Immediately the room went so still it almost felt staged.For one long second after Chairman Hargrove said "Six billion dollars", nobody moved. Nobody breathed the way they had been breathing a moment ago.Karen's lips parted.Jade's eyes widened so quickly it was almost comical.Derek's jaw dropped outright, all his earlier swagger evaporating beneath the sheer force of the number.Even Mia, who had spent years training her face into calm executive neutrality, could not keep the shock from showing fully now.Six billion.Not three but Six.And for what? for a formula she did not have.For a product she could not identify with certainty.For something she had only just begun to understand might have existed at all.That was the worst part of it. If this had happened this morning, before Ethan walked out with his mother's ashes and whatever Helen Cole had entrusted to him, Mia might have still believed this was simply aggressive investor enthusiasm. But after Mr. Graves. After the hosp
You may also like
The understated miraculous Doctor.
Pen thinker 101.1K viewsThe Indestructible Alexander
Adam Aksara115.5K viewsI Made $900 Trillion In 24 Hours
Jericho Chase177.0K viewsThe Rise Of The Unknown Zillionaire Heir
Gem Lynne163.9K viewsThe Ex-Con at Her Wedding Was a War Hero
Jamesverse50 viewsTHE BLUE BOTTLE CONTRACT
Angel Heart948 viewsMy Wife Let My Mother Die—Now I'm the Billionaire King
Ares Maximus36 viewsThe Supreme Warlord
K.A33 views