Chapter 271: Fourth Party?

Chapter 271: Chapter 271: Fourth Party?

The early afternoon sun cut through the tinted floor-to-ceiling glass of Golden Investments’ corner suite, casting long, sharp shadows across the dark mahogany desk. Outside, the financial district moved with its usual frantic pace, entirely oblivious to the seismic shift that had just rattled its foundation.

Jake sat behind his desk, swirling two fingers of scotch in a crystal tumbler. Opposite him, Alice Chase stood holding a secure ledger pad, her demeanor a mix of high-adrenaline fatigue and deep satisfaction.

"The numbers have finalized, Mr. Rivers," Alice said, tapping the screen. "When the dust settled on the morning session, Newman Enterprise Group had lost over eighty percent of its market value. Between our aggressive short campaign and the open-market sweeps, Golden Investments snatched up an additional six point three percent in distressed secondary blocks. Combined with the fifteen percent equity you held prior to the bell, our total voting stake in NEG now sits at twenty-one point three percent."

"And the Sheele Group?" Jake asked, taking a slow, measured sip.

"The Sheele Group played their hand aggressive and fast," Alice replied, her brow furrowing slightly. "While we were tearing through their liquidity wall, Sheele Group’s buy orders swallowed up nineteen point seven percent of outstanding voting shares at bottom-barrel prices."

Jake lowered his glass, a faint, razor-thin smile touching his lips. ’So the old man was sniffing around the carcass after all,’ he thought, recalling Stuart’s initial five-hundred-million-mark support wall that had dissolved so quickly under their short barrage. ’Was he planning this move from the very beginning? Using my attack to drive down the price so he could buy in cheap?’

"The Sheele Group is a five-trillion-mark behemoth, sir," Alice noted carefully. "Holding nearly twenty percent makes them a massive wall inside the board. With your twenty-one point three percent and their nineteen point seven percent, the entire balance of power within NEG has completely shifted away from the founding family."

"They started buying aggressively the moment the stock broke fifty marks," Jake murmured, setting his glass down with a quiet, deliberate clack. "I saw their buy algorithms sweeping up secondary blocks in real time. If I hadn’t ordered our traders to step in immediately and snatch up that extra six point three percent, the Sheeles would have easily taken the controlling block before trading was halted."

’Obviously I couldn’t just let them secure an unchecked majority,’ Jake reasoned silently, his eyes narrowing as he stared out over the skyline. ’I didn’t destroy Richard’s balance sheet just to hand the keys over to Stuart Sheele on a silver platter.’

"But Stuart Sheele would never bother stepping into a secondary firm’s boardroom himself," Jake continued aloud, his voice cool and measured. "A man controlling five trillion marks doesn’t grace local squabbles with his presence. I wonder who he’ll send. It would be better if it’s Marcus."

"They’ll expect you to negotiate, Mr. Rivers," Alice said. "Neither of you holds an absolute fifty-one percent majority on your own."

"Stuart bought equity in a company whose operational cash reserves are completely zero," Jake said, his tone dropping into a cold, lethal register. "He holds nineteen point seven percent of a corpse. Tomorrow morning, when the emergency shareholder assembly convenes, I’m not going in there to carve up pieces with the Sheeles. I’m going to finish what I started."

---

Arthur sat in a heavy leather armchair on his covered veranda, watching the afternoon rain drift steadily over his lawn. He held a cup of black tea in one hand, while his phone rested on the table beside him on speaker.

"You took a massive risk today, Stuart," Arthur said into the mic. "Five hundred million marks down the drain on that buy-wall, and then turning around to buy nineteen point seven percent of a company crashing to zero?"

Over the line, a quiet clink sounded as Stuart Sheele set his teacup down.

"I didn’t buy a single share, Arthur," Stuart replied, his tone entirely flat.

Arthur’s cup paused halfway to his mouth. His eyes narrowed. ’If Stuart didn’t execute that trade, who the hell authorized a billion-mark acquisition during a live market collapse?’

"What do you mean you didn’t buy them?" Arthur asked.

"I put up the five hundred million as a test to see how far Rivers would push," Stuart said. "Once he hit them with that short wave, I pulled back. I didn’t authorize a single buy order."

Arthur set his cup down on the saucer, his mind racing. ’There are only two people in the entire five-trillion-mark Sheele Group with the executive authority to move that kind of capital that fast.’

"Sylvia," Arthur said quietly.

Stuart was quiet for a second over the phone. When he spoke again, his voice dropped an octave, losing its usual easy confidence. "Yes. I got the transaction report twenty minutes ago. She bypassed the investment committee, used her executive clearance, and swept up nineteen point seven percent of the shares the second the stock bottomed out."

’Sylvia didn’t consult him?’ Arthur thought, a cold chill running down his spine. ’If she moved without Stuart’s knowledge, then thameans she isn’t acting on behalf of family strategy—she’s hunting for herself.’

"Why?" Arthur asked. "Does she have a deal with Rivers?"

"I don’t know," Stuart admitted, rubbing his temples on the other end of the line. "She isn’t answering my calls. My legal team just informed me she’ll be going to the Newman tower for an emergency board meeting at nine tomorrow morning. She didn’t even mention it to me."

Arthur leaned forward, staring at the rain hitting the glass railings. ’Sylvia Sheele doesn’t move unless she was going for the throat, and the fact that she was operating completely in the dark, even from her own father, meant tomorrow wasn’t going to be a routine corporate cleanup.’

"Rivers holds twenty-one point three percent," Arthur said. "He tore through your five hundred million like it wasn’t even there. If Sylvia thinks she can just bully him at that table tomorrow because she has the Sheele Group behind her, she’s out of her mind."

"She knows what she’s doing," Stuart insisted, though his voice sounded more like he was trying to convince himself than Arthur. "The boy is brilliant. Fierce, aggressive, and utterly ruthless. But he is still young. Between her nineteen point seven and Rivers’ twenty-one point three, they control the company. He will realize he has to deal with Sylvia."

Arthur let out a low, dry laugh, shaking his head slowly as a faint, cold smirk touched his lips.

"You’re making a dangerous assumption, Stuart," Arthur said softly.

A brief silence hung on the line before Stuart replied, his tone curious. "Oh? And what assumption is that?"

"You and Sylvia are assuming Jake Rivers wants to save the Newman Enterprise Group," Arthur said, his voice dropping into a quiet, ominous whisper. "You think this is about board seats and proxy votes. Rivers didn’t throw billions at a short attack just to split a ruined business with your daughter. When that kid goes to war, he doesn’t take prisoners."

---

Across town, inside the cold, modern living room of Sam Newman’s penthouse, the lights were turned off.

The only illumination came from the glowing screen of Sam’s laptop resting on the marble island. Sam sat alone in the dark, his shirt stained, his eyes wide and bloodshot as he stared at the corporate registry updates sitting on his monitor.

His doorbell didn’t ring. Instead, the electronic keypad chimed, and the heavy oak door creaked open.

Sam didn’t even turn his head. "I told you to leave, Julian."

"It’s not Julian," a voice replied, tight and laced with venom.

Sam turned his head slowly to see his brother, Ray, standing in the doorway. Ray looked completely hollowed out—his tie was gone, his suit jacket wrinkled, his face pale with a mix of exhaustion and incandescent rage. Behind him, Finn stood silently in the hallway, staring down at the floorboards.

"Where’s Dad?" Sam asked, his voice dry and hoarse.

"At the main estate dealing with Troy," Ray spat out, taking two heavy steps into the room. He pointed a trembling, furious finger directly at Sam’s face. "And it’s all your fault, you useless, arrogant bastard!"

Sam flinched, but stayed quiet. ’He’s right,’ a dark voice whispered inside Sam’s head as he looked at his brother’s bloodshot eyes. ’I brought this on us.’

"Newman Enterprise Group wasn’t even on Jake Rivers’ radar!" Ray screamed, his voice cracking with pure emotion. "He didn’t care about us! But you—you had to prove how powerful you were by cornering his mother, his sister, and his girlfriend in that damn parking lot! You backed him into a corner and forced us to hand over a ten percent stake just to keep him from destroying your life!"

Ray stepped closer, slamming his fist onto the marble island with a dull, heavy thud. "Do you know what that ten percent cost me, Sam?! My stake was slashed from one point three percent down to a pathetic zero point one percent just to cover your mess! My entire position in this family was gutted because of your stupidity!"

"Ray, calm down—" Finn tried to intervene weakly from the doorway.

"Calm down?!" Ray whirled around, glaring at Finn before turning back to Sam. "And then Troy made it ten times worse! Troy hated that Rivers forced his way onto the board with that fifteen percent total, so what did Troy do? He leaked those ridiculous smear campaigns to the media, trying to ruin Rivers’ reputation in the press! Troy poked the monster, but you brought him to our front door, Sam!"

Sam stared at his hands, his knuckles white against the marble counter. ’Troy and I thought we were untouchable,’ Sam thought bitterly, his chest tightening until it hurt to breathe. ’And we didn’t realize we were picking a fight with a predator.’

"Troy holds thirteen percent... Dad holds thirty... Mary holds seven... Joe Dane holds five point six..." Sam whispered, his eyes scanning the numbers on the screen. "Even if Dad and Troy pool their votes with Mary and Joe, they can’t match Rivers and Sheele’s influence. Our family has lost control."

"There is no ’family control’ anymore, Sam," Ray said, his voice dropping into a bitter, broken whisper. "Tomorrow morning is the emergency assembly. And we’re going to watch Jake Rivers burn everything we have left to the ground."

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