The Useless Son-in-Law Is a Hidden Tycoon

Chapter 6: Power and Silence

Loud, hysterical laughter erupted throughout the executive boardroom.

The twelve board members leaned back in their leather chairs, slapping the mahogany table as they cackled at the man sitting in the wheelchair.

"Is this a joke?" Dwight wheezed, wiping a tear of laughter from his eye.

"Did someone hire a crippled comedian to entertain us before we go bankrupt?"

"You own Starburst Tech?" another director, Orson, mocked, pointing a trembling finger at Aren's simple wheelchair.

"Kid, we are forty million dollars in debt! Even your clothes probably cost less than a fraction of our interest payments!"

"Get this beggar out of here!" Dwight ordered, turning away with deep disgust. "We have actual business to conduct!"

Aren sat in the center of the room, completely unbothered by their ridicule.

He did not raise his voice or argue. He simply raised his right hand and tapped his fingers twice against the armrest.

Behind him, Xavier stepped forward with an icy, terrifying calm.

Xavier snapped open his silver briefcase and withdrew a thick stack of legal documents, placing them firmly on the center of the conference table.

"At seven-thirty this morning, Mr. Aren Greyson purchased sixty percent of Starburst Tech's outstanding shares in cash,"

Xavier announced, his voice booming across the boardroom and instantly cutting through the noise.

"Furthermore, Mr. Greyson's private holding company has just acquired your entire forty-million-dollar debt from City Central Bank."

The laughter died instantly.

The room plunged into suffocating silence.

Dwight's face drained of all color. His hands trembled as he reached for the legal documents and snatched them off the table.

As his eyes scanned the official bank stamps and equity transfer documents, his breath caught in his throat.

"This... this is real," Dwight stammered, his voice shaking.

"Forty million dollars in debt... paid off in a single wire transfer?"

The other directors panicked, jumping out of their seats and crowding around Dwight as they frantically read the paperwork over his shoulder.

"He bought the majority shares?"

"He owns the debt? That means... he controls all of us!"

Aren looked up at the trembling directors, his dark eyes cold and commanding.

"Ten seconds ago, you thought I was a comedian,"

Aren said softly, his voice echoing through the silent room. "Now, every single one of you works for me."

Dwight swallowed hard, his knees feeling weak. He immediately dropped the papers and bowed his head deeply toward Aren.

"Mr. Greyson! Forgive our ignorance! We did not know a man of your caliber—"

"Silence," Aren cut him off sharply.

He turned his wheelchair slightly and looked around the table at the terrified board members.

"I did not buy Starburst Tech to keep useless managers on my payroll," Aren stated coldly.

"Every board member who voted to liquidate this company and abandon its employees is fired, effective immediately. Pack your desks and clear out of my building within twenty minutes."

Gasps of horror echoed around the table, but no one dared to argue. The financial authority behind Aren's words made their protests seem pointless.

"Xavier," Aren ordered smoothly.

"Inject fifty million dollars in working capital into the research and development division by noon. I want our core software project back online today."

"Understood, Young Master," Xavier replied respectfully.

Meanwhile, across the city at Richards Group headquarters, the atmosphere was bleak.

Jasmine sat at her executive desk, her eyes bloodshot and surrounded by dark circles. She had not slept a single minute.

Her desk was covered with unread notices, missed calls, and legal warnings.

"Any word from Nikolai?" Helen demanded, pacing frantically across the office rug. "Has his father sent the twenty million dollars yet?"

Jasmine slowly shook her head, fighting back tears of humiliation.

"Nikolai isn't answering my calls, Mom. His secretary said he left the country on a 'business trip' early this morning."

"That coward!" Helen shrieked, clutching her chest. "He promised to take care of you! How could he run away?!"

Before Jasmine could break down in tears, her office door burst open.

Her chief financial officer, Theron, rushed into the room, gasping for breath as he held a tablet in his hand.

"President Richards! You need to see this right now!" Theron shouted.

"A mysterious investor just bought out Starburst Tech!"

Jasmine frowned, wiping her eyes.

"Why do I care about Starburst Tech? We are about to go bankrupt in four hours!"

"Because Starburst Tech was drowning in forty million dollars of debt this morning!" Theron explained frantically.

"This new anonymous owner acquired sixty percent of the company and cleared its entire debt. The news media is going wild!"

Helen's eyes lit up with desperate greed.

"Who is this person?!"

"Sources inside say he operates under the title of Young Master Greyson," Theron revealed, showing them the financial headlines on his tablet.

"If we can somehow contact him and convince him to invest in Richards Group, he could save our company with a single snap of his fingers!"

Jasmine froze the moment the name left Theron's mouth.

Greyson?

Her mind instantly flashed back to Aren.

That was his last name.

A sudden, sharp panic seized her heart.

Could it be him?

Could her quiet, disabled husband actually be—

Jasmine caught herself and let out a cold, bitter laugh, shaking her head at the absurd thought.

"Greyson is a famous, powerful surname," Jasmine scoffed.

"There are thousands of people with that last name. My ex-husband is just a penniless cripple who couldn't even afford a decent birthday cake last night. He's probably sleeping on a bench in a public park right now."

"Exactly!" Helen chimed in, waving her hand with deep disdain.

"That useless live-in son-in-law doesn't have two pennies to rub together! Don't waste your breath comparing a powerful titan like Young Master Greyson to a paralyzed beggar!"

Jasmine stared at the tablet screen, reading about the mysterious, ultra-wealthy figure who had taken control of Starburst Tech in a single morning.

The coincidence of the name left a strange, cold knot in her stomach, but her arrogance quickly buried the suspicion.

"Find out where this Young Master Greyson is holding his press conference,"

Jasmine commanded, her voice filled with desperate resolve.

"I don't care what it takes. I will go and present our company portfolio to him in person."