Chapter 845:
Then he raised his eyes. The room had fallen silent, every guest frozen under the weight of what had just unfolded. Brad’s calm gaze swept over the crowd — the shocked, the guilty, the suddenly uneasy — before resting on Johnny’s trembling form.
“I warned you,” he said softly, his voice clear enough to reach every corner. “Never celebrate until the ink is dry.”
He turned slightly, meeting the eyes of the steel supplier who had paid a massive penalty in hopes of riding on the Reid family’s success. A faint smile touched his lips.
“And as I mentioned earlier, I truly hoped your dream would pay off.”
The man’s knees nearly buckled. Sweat gathered on his brow as the truth hit him.
Half his fortune — gone in a heartbeat. The Havenridge order he’d gambled on had vanished like smoke.
The night had turned upside down.
Everyone had expected the Reids to rise, with Johnny poised to eclipse Brad as Crolens’s next powerhouse.
Yet, in one stunning turn, everything reversed. The Havenridge Group recognized only Brad.
Havenridge’s position was clear — Brad, as their management partner in Crolens, held the ten-billion-dollar project at his discretion. Whom he appointed to construct the ship, and who earned a share of the profits, rested entirely with him.
Those who had believed Johnny’s boasts — certain Brad was finished and rushing to cut ties — now sat in silent regret.
“We had an agreement!” Johnny’s voice cracked as he spun toward the Havenridge team. “How could you change it without notice? And this so-called management team appears out of nowhere! What did Brad offer you?”
The woman from Havenridge didn’t flinch. She adjusted her glasses and answered with a calm that sliced sharper than anger.
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“Mr. Reid, verbal promises carry no weight in our decisions. And as for what Mr. Morgan offered us…”
A faint smile crossed her face as she continued, “What could he possibly offer that Havenridge doesn’t already have? Do you even grasp the scale of our global holdings? If not, I question your understanding of business. It seems Mr. Morgan judged wisely.”
Her tone was polite, but the bite was unmistakable.
Johnny stood rooted, the meaning of her words sinking deep. He knew Havenridge’s reach stretched far beyond ordinary wealth.
They controlled industries across continents. Their trust fund alone handled the assets of nearly every billionaire on record. Their influence ran deeper than nations, their power unquestioned.
Despite knowing all of this, Johnny still found it hard to accept the fact. Everything he’d schemed for — every connection, every maneuver — had ended in ruin.
And the man standing at the center of it all, calm and untouchable, was Brad — the very person he had vowed to surpass.
The thought was unbearable. The weight of his own failure left him lightheaded.
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