2026-10-08 21:46:19The red numbers on the financial paper printed the bitter truth. Sterling Enterprises was standing right on the edge of a deep cliff. Seven days were all that remained before their total destruction.
Richard Sterling slumped on the floor like a broken old man. Julian cradled his red, swollen fingers to his chest, weeping quietly in the quiet room.
"Get out," Lucas commanded, his voice as sharp as a fresh razor. "You are cluttering my office."
Two tall guards stepped forward instantly. They grabbed Richard and Julian by their jacket collars, dragging them across the smooth floor like bags of trash. They threw them out into the hallway and slammed the heavy wooden doors shut with a loud bang.
By twelve o'clock that afternoon, dark news broke across the city. Rumors leaked from the financial district that Sterling Enterprises had lost all credit backing from Grand Dragon Financial. Panic spread like wild fire among the rich investors.
The stock market opened, and the shares of Sterling Enterprises began to fall at a terrifying speed. Within three hours, the stock price plunged by thirty percent. Millions of dollars vanished into thin air.
Inside the Sterling family mansion, glass cups smashed against the wall. Richard paced around the living room like a crazy person, throwing vase after vase onto the floor.
"How could this happen?" Richard screamed, his face bright red with blood. "Thirty percent gone in one single afternoon! My business partners are calling me nonstop to cancel their supply contracts!"
Julian sat on the sofa, his right hand wrapped in thick white bandages. He looked up at his father with fear in his eyes. "Dad, what do we do? If the banks demand their money back, we are completely finished."
Richard stopped pacing and turned to Julian with a wild, desperate look in his eyes. He grabbed his son by his shoulders, shaking him hard.
"Listen to me, Julian!" Richard shouted. "The Vance family still has money and land! Even if Beatrice lost her shares, their family still has real estate and factories worth millions! You must force Chloe to fast-track your wedding right now!"
"Fast-track the wedding?" Julian asked, his voice shaking.
"Yes!" Richard demanded loudly. "Marry her by this weekend! Once you sign the marriage papers, we can legally combine our families and pool all their remaining assets into our company! That cash will buy us enough time to save our skin!"
"I will call her right now," Julian said quickly, pulling out his phone with his good hand.
Meanwhile, at the Vance family house, Chloe sat in the grand dining room. Her face looked pale and exhausted from crying all night. Her dress was clean, but her eyes were swollen and dark.
Her mother, Beatrice, sat across from her. Beatrice had just been released from the police cell an hour ago. She looked tired, her hair messy and her hands shaking as she held a teacup.
"Chloe," Beatrice whimpered, her voice raspy. "You really gave away my thirty percent company shares to that beggar Lucas?"
"Mother, shut up!" Chloe snapped, slamming her hand onto the table. "I had to sign those papers! If I did not sign them, you would be sitting in a dark prison cell for ten years right now!"
Beatrice dropped her head, crying softly into her napkin.
Suddenly, Chloe's phone rang on the table. She saw Julian's name on the screen and answered it quickly.
"Julian!" Chloe said, hope rising in her chest. "Are you okay? Is your father's bank loan cleared?"
"Forget about the loan!" Julian yelled into the receiver. "Chloe, we need to get married this Saturday! We need to merge our family assets immediately to save my father's business!"
Chloe felt a cold wave hit her heart. "This Saturday? Julian, my family is in trouble too! My mother just lost her shares! I need help from our corporate contacts first before we talk about a wedding!"
"Just do what I say!" Julian roared back. "Call your business friends! Get them to give us cash, or our wedding is canceled forever!"
Julian hung up the phone before she could say another word.
Chloe squeezed her eyes shut, feeling a deep headache behind her forehead. She bit her lower lip and opened her phone contact list. She decided to call the richest directors who used to do business with her father.
She clicked on the first name, Director Miller, a rich factory owner who always smiled at her at parties.
The phone rang three times before Director Miller picked up.
"Hello, Director Miller!" Chloe said, trying her best to sound cheerful and polite. "This is Chloe Vance. I am calling to see if your company would like to invest in our new textile line this month? We can offer you a great deal—"
"Miss Vance," Director Miller interrupted her, his voice cold and flat like stone. "Have you not seen the news today?"
"What news?" Chloe asked, her heart beating fast.
"Grand Dragon Financial issued a master warning to every company in the city two hours ago," Director Miller stated strictly. "Anyone who gives a single dollar to the Vance family or the Sterling family will be blacklisted by the bank instantly. I will lose my own business if I talk to you. Do not call my number ever again."
Click!
The call went dead.
Chloe stared at her phone in total shock. Her hands began to shake violently. She quickly dialed another number, calling Director Chen, a close family friend for ten years.
"Director Chen, please!" Chloe cried out as soon as he answered. "We need help! Can you lend us—"
"Chloe, are you trying to kill my business?" Director Chen barked angrily into the phone. "Supporting your family means immediate destruction by Grand Dragon Financial! I am blocking your number right now!"
The line disconnected with a sharp beep.
Chloe tried five more numbers. Six more numbers. Every single director gave her the exact same answer before hanging up in her face. Some shouted at her, while others simply blocked her line instantly.
The truth hit her like a bucket of ice water. The Vance family was completely isolated. Lucas had cut off every single path of survival for her family with a single move.
She dropped her phone onto the table, covering her face with her trembling hands. She wept bitterly, realizing that without money or business partners, her family was walking straight into total ruin.
Just then, a sleek black envelope dropped onto the wooden table right beside her elbow.
Chloe wiped her wet eyes and looked up. A butler in a dark uniform bowed politely and walked out of the house without saying a word.
Chloe picked up the heavy black envelope. It was sealed with a shiny gold stamp showing a roaring dragon logo.
With trembling fingers, she tore open the envelope and pulled out a thick card made of pure black silk.
Gold letters were printed neatly across the middle of the invitation card:
YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO THE PRIVATE GRAND BANQUET AT THE IMPERIAL TOWER THIS EVENING. THE SUPREME HEAD OF GRAND DRAGON FINANCIAL WILL BE PRESENT TO SELECT A NEW EXCLUSIVE BUSINESS PARTNER FOR THE CITY.
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Chapter 20: The Alliance of Losers
The yellow box of plastic trash bags sat in the wet grass right between Chloe and Beatrice shaking hands.The armored black limousine rolled up its tinted window and drove away smoothly down the quiet road, leaving the mother and daughter weeping in the mud.By five o'clock in the evening, movers cleared every piece of furniture out of the grand Vance estate. Mr. Davis locked the heavy iron gates with a massive thick chain, slapping a big red bank seal right on the front gate.Chloe and her mother stood on the sidewalk with four plastic trash bags filled with their old clothes. Neighbors watched from their balconies, pointing their fingers and laughing at the downfall of the proud Vance family.Julian Sterling drove up in a small, cheap rental car. His fine sports car had been seized by the court, and his bandaged hand was dirty and sore. He stepped out of the car, looking at Chloe messy hair and Beatrice ruined dress with deep disgust."Get into the car," Julian spat out, his voice f
Chapter 19: The Mansion Foreclosure
Chloe held the phone to her ear as her mother shrieked like a crazy woman. She dropped her cardboard box right on the pavement and ran toward her car.Her heart pounded against her ribs like a heavy drum. Every single thing her family owned was disappearing into thin air, torn away piece by piece by the husband she had treated like dirt.She drove across the city like a wild person, blowing through yellow lights and making her tires squeal. Twenty minutes later, her red car pulled onto the quiet street of the Vance family private neighborhood.The scene on her front lawn made her blood freeze inside her body.Three big black bank trucks were parked along the stone driveway. Four police officers stood by the front entrance, keeping back a crowd of curious neighbors who were taking pictures with their phones. Two men in formal dark suits were wrapping thick yellow tape across the heavy iron gates and putting big white legal stickers over the shiny golden door handles.Beatrice stood rig
Chapter 18: Stripped of Everything
The bright yellow eviction paper felt heavy and ice cold in Chloe hands. She stood frozen outside the boardroom, watching Lucas walk past her without giving her a single glance.His long dark coat swayed gently as he moved down the hallway, surrounded by security guards and respectful board members.Chloe stumbled back into her big CEO office. Tears poured down her pale cheeks, ruining her foundation and leaving dark lines under her eyes.She looked around the spacious room that used to be her pride. The leather executive chair, the glass desk, the glossy framed awards on the wall, and the view of the city skyline all belonged to her just ten minutes ago. Now, none of it was hers.Two tall female security guards stepped into the room, standing silently by the door."Miss Vance," one guard said coldly. "Your ten minutes started three minutes ago. Please pack your personal items quickly."Chloe felt a deep wave of humiliation burn through her body. She grabbed a small brown cardboard bo
Chapter 17: The Contract Clause
The morning sun had barely risen when a loud noise woke up the Sterling household. Richard Sterling opened his front door and let out a horrified scream.Spread across his neat green lawn were five bruised men, tied up with thick rope and groaning in pain. Sitting on top of Julian shiny red sports car was a white paper pinned with a sharp knife. The written warning read four simple words: play stupid games, win stupid prizes.Julian stood behind his father, his face turning paper white as he recognized the leader of Black Snake hitmen lying broken on the grass. He knew right then that Lucas was a force he could never defeat with street fights or dirty tricks.While the Sterling family fell into complete chaos, another storm hit Vance Logistics.By eight o'clock in the morning, three major truck fleets refused to move their loads. Supply lines across the state stopped working completely. Raw materials were stuck at the harbor, and local factories began calling the main office, screamin
Chapter 16: The Iron Fist
The five masked hitmen laughed loudly as rain poured down around them. They thought Lucas was a helpless boy trapped in a narrow trap. The leader swung his heavy iron pipe in the air, his eyes full of cruel joy."Hit his legs first!" the leader yelled to his men. "Make him drop to his knees!"The first hitman charged forward like a wild animal. He raised a thick wooden club above his head and brought it down hard, aiming directly for Lucas skull.Lucas did not flinch. He did not step back. In one smooth motion, he stepped to the left, letting the heavy club smash uselessly into the wet ground. Before the attacker could pull his weapon back, Lucas reached out, grabbed the man wrist, and twisted it sharply.SNAP!The hitman screamed in pure agony as his bone cracked under Lucas grip. Lucas drove a quick, powerful palm strike right into the man chest. The attacker flew backward three feet and crashed onto the wet concrete, unconscious before his body hit the mud.The other four hitmen st
Chapter 15: The Retaliation Plan
The grand ballroom clapped and cheered as Lucas raised his gold glass. Smooth music played again, and waiters carried trays of fine food to the rich guests.Chloe sat alone at the small table in the back corner, her body shaking as tear after tear fell onto her velvet dress. She looked at Lucas standing among the most powerful people in the state, knowing that she had thrown away a life of pure gold for a man lying in the mud outside.Outside the hotel, the rain poured down hard on the dark pavement. Julian lay in a dirty puddle, his torn suit soaked in black mud. Flashbulbs from news cameras kept popping in his face. Every major television station in the city was showing his humiliating fall live on television.A heavy black car pulled up to the curb with a loud screech of tires. The door flew open, and Richard Sterling stepped out into the storm. His face was red with pure rage, his teeth clenching so hard his jaw looked like stone. He saw his son lying on the wet floor like a beate
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