Life at the Top

Chapter 44

Running red lights as he sped to Hanks Residence, Zayden had yet to catch his breath when he was summoned by Sylva, his father and the head of the Hanks family, to the study.

“I just received notice this afternoon that there were unusual fluctuations with Heavenly Dragon’s stocks. Someone is trying to control the market price. I believe you’ve already fought them?” Sylva stated as he looked at Zayden impassively.

As Zayden’s father, no one knew better than Sylva of his son’s actions.

Embezzling Schuler Group, for example. Without Sylva’s permission, there was no way Zayden would have the guts or the resources to do so.

As well as when Zayden did not hand over the 600 million he had taken from Schuler Group and invested it into Heavenly Dragon instead. It was something Sylva had allowed.

Yet evidently, the current turn of events had exceeded the expectations of the father-son duo.

Taking a big gulp from the cup a servant had brought in, Zayden then relayed the entire situation to his father with an embarrassed look on his face.

Sylva remained quiet as he listened and did not comment on anything at all.

“Which is to say, your plan has been exposed.” Sylva’s tone was void of emotions.

Zayden knew that this was a premonition to his father’s fury and quickly replied, “The plan’s been smooth-sailing this entire time, Dad. Everyone around me is too loyal to betray me. I can’t think of how that b*stard Schuler could’ve gotten wind of it.”

“You were set for failure the moment you saw Dawson as a fool who would be easily trampled on!” Sylva chided.

“Dawson and I are from the same generation. If he could’ve gotten to where he is today even under your grandfather’s control, then what makes you think you can hold power over him when the Hanks family has failed to? Did you think that your plan was flawless? Do you have any idea how many times I’ve had to clean up after you?”

Zayden’s expression grew despondent as Sylva continued to berate him.

“Dad, the biggest issue now is that we have no idea who this person sniping Heavenly Dragon Real Estates is. Maybe Dawson found someone to lean on, but we still have to make a move no matter what.”

“No sh*t!” Sylva scoffed, speaking in a grim tone, “Heavenly Dragon Real Estate is one of our family’s main assets. You have no idea how many of your uncles and cousins are dying to get their hands on it. With the sh*t you’ve gotten into today, I’ve already received four to five calls from them.

“The Hanks family may be strong, but these uncles of yours are hardly easily placated.

“Any mishandling of this will result in a grave loss to the family. Screw this up and you can forget about succeeding my place in the family.”

Zayden banged his fist on the office desk and growled. “I don’t care who this person is, but I’ll make sure I won’t let them get what they want! I can tell you for sure that they’re here for the sole purpose to crash the market!”

“This person has enough funds, which means that they came prepared or perhaps have been plotting against us from a long time ago. That’ll explain why money isn’t his objective. What he wants is to crush Heavenly Dragon Real Estate.”

“Give me some funds, Dad. This person has accumulated enough shares today, so I’m sure he’ll crash the market right off the bat tomorrow morning when it opens. We can’t just stand by and watch it

happen.”

“What if all he wants is to make a fortune? Won’t you just be walking into their trap with my money?” Sylva asked.

Zayden shook his head and replied with certainty, “No way. Heavenly Dragon has been low-profile this entire time. There’s nothing to profit off of it.

“From what happened today, this person’s still accumulating shares even as the stocks are at a 9.99% increase. They’ll control the stocks at the lowest possible price if they’re doing this for the money. There’s no other explanation but to crash the market.”

Sylva fell silent for a moment before he asked, “So how much money do you need?”

“One billion!” Zayden’s words were shocking.

“We’ll have to take from the family’s assets if you want to withdraw that much money. Are you aware of the consequences?” Sylva’s expression was solemn.

Zayden clenched his jaw. “If we succeed, our family will suffer no losses.”

“We can take advantage of the 600 million I invested in the beginning for profit, coupled with my own money that I put in. It’ll accumulate to a total of 1.7 billion dollars of capital. It’ll be enough to crush them, and I’ll have at least two billion to spare when we’re done. I won’t lose.

“We can’t delay the situation with Schuler anymore. I’ve decided to push the plan forward and immediately publicize Schuler Group’s broken cash flow. There’s no doubt that Schuler Group will be over.

“If the person in the stock market is the one Schuler is leaning on, then they’ll be attacked by both sides. They can’t possibly take care of both ends at the same time, so they’ll lose!”

Seeing the confidence in Zayden, Sylva fell deep in thought for a moment before he made a decision.

“Alright. I’ll support your decision. The money will arrive in your account by the time the market opens again tomorrow. Don’t forget that this is a battle you cannot lose. Win, and no one will be able to steal the spot as heir from you, but lose, and my place will be affected by your actions as we.” This text is property of Nô/velD/rama.Org.

Zayden gave a wretched smile and replied, “Don’t worry, Dad. There’s no way I’ll lose. Schuler Group will be ours, and I want Wendy too.”

A lustful look flashed through Zayden’s eyes as he began to salivate at the thought of Wendy’s ethereal features and alluring figure.

…

While Zayden returned to Hanks Residence, Jasper turned the computer off back at Schuler Group.

“How’d it go?” Dawson asked Jasper straight-forwardly as he did not understand stocks too much.

“Not too bad. Zayden reacted quickly and has enough funds, so he was able to pull at least 100 million more at the last minute.

“But most of my shares were bought when the prices were close to the down limit and almost all of them seemed to have increased to the daily limit now. As such, I ended up earning more than ten million today.”

Jasper was in a good mood.

It was not a daily occurrence where the enemy provided you ammo.

“You’ve earned more than ten million in just a few hours?” Dawson was astonished.

His company was in the supermarket industry. It was a legendary cash cow that guaranteed profits every year.

Still, excluding expenses, Schuler Group earned a net profit of no more than a million every day.

To earn such an amount was already considered impressive at such a time, but it seemed so inferior in comparison to the over ten million Jasper had earned in a few hours of doing absolutely nothing.

That was the reason why Dawson was so impatient to introduce his company to the stock market. Sure, Dawson did not understand the market, but he knew that legally, the fastest way to increase his capital would be through stocks.

“I told you, didn’t I, Dad? Jasp is really good at this.” Wendy began to boast again as if she would never grow tired of doing such a thing.

“So what happens tomorrow?” Dawson asked.

“Zayden doesn’t have a choice. All he can do now is withdraw and pool money so that he has more available cash than me. However, there’s no way he’s winning in terms of liquid cash.”

Jasper chuckled lightly and spoke, “He’ll definitely do everything he can to accumulate as many stocks as he can tomorrow, which is why I’m going to close my position and drive his cash flow into a drought.”