Chapter 12 - A Desperate Alliance
The leather seats of the limousine felt like a fleeting, painful reminder of the luxurious life Ethan had foolishly thrown away.
Julian poured himself a glass of expensive bourbon, completely ignoring Ethan's thirsty, desperate gaze.
He demanded to know every single secret, every hidden vulnerability, and every quiet flaw Claire possessed.
Ethan eagerly opened his mouth, heavily fabricating stories about Alexander Whitmore to make himself seem incredibly valuable.
He claimed that Claire’s late father had actually stolen the original blueprints for Whitmore Tower from a rival architect.
It was a baseless, pathetic lie, but Julian Vance’s eyes lit up with malicious, calculated joy.
If Julian could prove that the foundation of the Whitmore empire was built on fraud, the company’s stock would completely plummet.
He handed Ethan the briefcase of cash, explicitly ordering him to find any forged documents in the old Harrington estate archives.
Ethan practically sprinted back to his miserable apartment, throwing the stacks of money onto the cheap plastic kitchen table.
Margaret gasped in pure shock, her greedy hands immediately grabbing the hundred-dollar bills as tears of joy streamed down her face.
She falsely praised Ethan as a brilliant mastermind, completely forgetting that he had bankrupted them in the first place.
For the next two weeks, Ethan frantically dug through old, dusty storage lockers belonging to his late father.
He managed to forge a series of old letters, desperately making it look like Alexander Whitmore had blackmailed the Harringtons decades ago.
He proudly delivered the fake documents to Julian, expecting a massive, permanent position at Vance Acquisitions.
Instead, Julian simply handed him a second briefcase and told him to wait in the shadows like an obedient dog.
Julian immediately leaked the forged documents to the most aggressive financial media outlets in the entire country.
The next morning, Claire woke up to a massive, screaming headline accusing her beloved father of severe corporate espionage.
Whitmore Global’s stock price immediately took a sharp, terrifying hit as panicked investors began to wildly sell off their shares.
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Julian Vance publicly announced a hostile takeover bid, aiming to completely strip Claire of her powerful empire.
Ethan watched the news from a cheap motel room, smiling wickedly as he foolishly believed he was finally getting his ultimate revenge.
