THE HIDDEN HEIR'S VENGEANCE

CHAPTER 26 : Cold Currency War

“You will return to your office and call James Sterling,” Matthew instructed. “Tell him the sabotage was successful. Tell him you weakened the concrete structure across all of Sector 4 and that next week’s inspection will fail catastrophically.”

“But… the inspection won’t fail, right?” Arthur asked, confused.

“Of course not. You will replace the bad concrete with top-grade material tonight,” Matthew said firmly. “But James must believe this project is a ticking time bomb.”

Viviane understood now. Her eyes shone as she grasped her husband’s strategy. “You want James to think we’re weak.”

“I want him to think we’re already dead,” Matthew replied, then looked back at Arthur. “So, Arthur? Prison or double agent?”

Arthur nodded quickly, desperately. “Double agent. I’ll do anything for you, sir. I swear on my children’s lives,” he said plainly.

Matthew released his grip, returned to the tablet on the table, and pressed accept.

[Transfer Complete: $2,500,000 credited to Arthur Pendelton]

“That money is yours now. Consider it a signing bonus,” Matthew said flatly. “But remember, Arthur. The ARC system monitors every beat of your heart, every cent you spend, and every word you speak.”

The middle-aged man nodded stiffly, absorbing every word.

“If you betray me again, I won’t send you to prison. I will erase your existence from the global banking system, and you won’t be able to buy a single piece of bread anywhere on Earth.”

“I understand, sir. I understand,” Arthur said, standing and bowing repeatedly before backing out of the room, his face pale but flooded with relief.

After the door closed, Viviane let out a long breath and sank back onto the sofa. “That was… terrifying, Matthew,” she said honestly. “You let him take enemy money and forced him to work for us.”

“James Sterling paid our employee’s salary today. That’s called efficiency, darling,” Matthew replied casually.

Inside his mind, however, the side effects of Level 3 pulsed. He felt no anger at Arthur’s betrayal, nor any pity. He only saw variables to be adjusted, as the ARC system delivered a status update.

[COUNTER-INTELLIGENCE MISSION

[Status: Double Agent] Established

[Reward: Strategic Intelligence. James Sterling will act aggressively based on false data.

[Physical Condition: 98 percent. Emotion: Stable / Detached]

“Now,” Matthew said as he walked toward the holographic map displaying James Sterling’s assets in Pennsylvania. “James thinks this project will fail. He’ll try to strike us when we fall.”

“What will he do?” Viviane asked, intrigued.

“He’ll short-sell the currencies we use to purchase materials or attack our stock again,” Matthew predicted. “And he’ll bet his fortune on our failure,” he said with a grin.

“And when he puts all his money on that gambling table… we’ll flip it over.”

At that moment, the phone resting on Viviane’s lap rang sharply. She glanced at the screen and saw the caller ID from Lane Corp’s finance department.

“Mrs. Lane,” the voice on the other end said in panic. “There’s massive movement in the foreign exchange market. Someone is dumping Singapore dollars and rupiah in huge volumes, the currencies we use to pay our Asian contractors.”

“Understood. Thank you,” Viviane replied firmly, ending the call and turning to Matthew. “You were right. James has already moved. He’s attacking our liquidity.”

“Good,” Matthew said, his eyes glowing blue. “He’s walked into the trap. Prepare yourself, Viviane. Tomorrow, we won’t be building a tower. We’ll be bringing down regional currencies.”

“ARC system,” Matthew commanded silently. “Prepare access to the Obsidian Vault. I need reserve funds for a counterattack tomorrow morning.”

[Access Prepared, Architect. Target: James Sterling’s Liquid Assets. Enemy Destruction Probability: 99 percent.]

Matthew picked up his jacket. “Let’s go home, Viviane. Arthur will handle the concrete. We need a good night’s sleep to watch James Sterling cry blood tomorrow.”

Viviane rose quickly, looking at her husband with a deepening mix of awe and fear. The man she had married was gone, replaced by a king without a crown who played chess with human lives. And the most frightening part was that she was beginning to like it more and more.

***

The next day,

“Put in ten billion now. Do not miss it by even a second,” James Sterling shouted, his voice echoing inside his private, soundproof trading room on Wall Street.

His two assistants trembled, their fingers flying frantically across their keyboards. On the massive screen before them, the GBP/USD currency pair chart fluctuated violently.

James stood there with a lit cigar, his bloodshot eyes fixed on the numbers as if he were staring at a pile of gold ready to be harvested.

“Mr. Sterling, are you certain about this data on Matthew Thomas’s weakness?” one of the assistants asked, cold sweat soaking his forehead. “If the market moves against the prediction, we will be completely exposed.”

James let out a mocking laugh, cigar smoke billowing from his mouth. “The data came straight from an insider at Lane Corp who feels betrayed. Matthew is dealing with liquidity problems because of his Monolith project,” James Sterling said without hesitation, his voice filled with certainty.

“Matthew is trying to stabilize his assets by dumping pound sterling on a massive scale. We will take the opposite position and wipe out his margin overnight.”

“But sir, this movement looks too… clean,” the other assistant murmured.

“Shut up and do your job. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to erase the Architect of Wealth from the financial map." James slammed his fist onto the mahogany desk. “Execute the long position now.”

***

In another part of the city, in a silence that stood in stark contrast to the chaos in James’s room, Matthew Thomas sat upright in his leather chair. Before his eyes, a holographic panel displaying the Absolute Resource Control System, ARC, emitted a cold neon blue glow.

“Subject James has entered the trap, Master,” ARC’s synthetic voice echoed in his mind. “He is using his full leverage against the false position we created.”

Matthew did not smile. His eyes remained locked on the stream of quantum data cascading like a waterfall of light. “Activate Quantum Resonance Protocol. Pull all liquidity out of the London market in five seconds.”

[“Warning. This activation will trigger moderate-level neural overheating. Do you wish to proceed? ”]

“Do it,” Matthew replied curtly.

Suddenly, a sharp pain, like red-hot silver needles, stabbed directly into the base of his skull. Matthew shut his eyes, his teeth grinding as he suppressed a groan. His temples throbbed violently, as if his brain were being forced to process millions of variables no human was ever meant to understand.

“Hold on… just a little longer,” he thought.

***

Meanwhile, back in James Sterling’s room, the world seemed to stop spinning.

On his screen, the currency chart that had been climbing only moments ago suddenly plunged straight down. It did not merely fall; it vanished into a chasm of unimaginable numbers.

“What’s happening?” James roared, dropping his cigar onto the expensive carpet. “Why is the price crashing? That’s impossible,” he screamed in panic.

“Mr. Sterling. Market liquidity has vanished. There are no buyers at all,” an assistant shrieked hysterically. “The automated system is issuing margin calls. We’re losing fifty million dollars per second.”

“Close the position. Close it now." James lunged across the desk, trying to take control.

“We can’t, sir. Our connection has been blocked by automatic regulatory protocols due to extreme volatility. We’re trapped.”

James stared at the screen with wide, unblinking eyes. The red numbers in his balance column drained at a terrifying speed. Hundreds of millions of dollars evaporated in an instant, disappearing into a digital void controlled by unseen hands.

“This can’t be happening… Matthew Thomas was supposed to be bleeding to death…” James whispered, his face turning ashen.

***

In his apartment, Matthew felt warm blood flow from his nose. He calmly wiped it away with a white handkerchief, his expression unchanged. The pain in his head began to subside, leaving behind the familiar cold emptiness that always followed maximum ARC usage.

“Operation complete. Additional liquidity totaling five hundred million dollars has been secured into Monolith’s shadow accounts,” ARC reported.

Matthew leaned back in his chair, gazing at the lights of New York City through the large window. He began to feel the weight of power, a force capable of shaking a local economy with a single command. He was no longer a ridiculed son-in-law but an apex predator at the top of the financial food chain.