Chapter 3 - The Falling Dominos
Three weeks later.
The corporate headquarters of Sterling Enterprises was in a state of absolute chaos. The news of Lucas’s sudden marriage to a "mystery woman" and the brutal ejection of Chloe Vance had leaked to the press, causing a media frenzy. But what shocked the financial world even more was the sudden, aggressive collapse of the Vance Logistics Group.
In the penthouse office, Lucas sat behind his glass desk, reviewing a series of financial ledgers. Sitting across from him was Julian, his chief legal counsel and closest friend.
"It’s a bloodbath, Lucas," Julian chuckled, tossing a newspaper onto the desk. "The moment you pulled the Sterling shipping contracts away from Vance Logistics, their stock price dropped by forty percent. Chloe’s father is frantically trying to borrow money from foreign banks, but your father-in-law's old connections have completely blocked him."
"And my mother?" Lucas asked, without looking up from his tablet.
"Rebecca is throwing a tantrum at the family manor. She tried to call an emergency board meeting to fire you, but she found out that fifty-one percent of the voting shares are now owned by a shell company registered under Ava’s name. Technically, your wife is now your mother’s boss."
Lucas allowed a rare, satisfied smirk to grace his lips. "Good. Let them feel what it’s like to have the ground pulled from beneath their feet."
Meanwhile, in a high-end cafe in the city center, Chloe was looking frantic. Her emerald dress from three weeks ago was gone, replaced by a simple trench coat, her hair unkempt. She was meeting with a notorious tabloid journalist, handing him a flash drive.
"This contains everything," Chloe hissed, her eyes wild with malice. "Photos of Ava before she met Lucas, fabricated stories about her sleeping her way to the top, and a fake medical record claiming the baby isn't even Lucas’s. I want her ruined. I want the public to tear her to pieces!"
The journalist smiled greedily, taking the drive. "Consider it done, Miss Vance. By tomorrow morning, this girl will be the most hated woman in the country."
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Chloe leaned back, a twisted, victorious smile returning to her face. If I can't have Lucas, and I can't have the Sterling fortune, I will ensure that little btch inherits nothing but ash,* she thought.
She didn't notice the two men in dark suits sitting at the table behind her, listening to every word, their hidden microphones recording her entire conversation.
