Chapter 4
I hung up.
Julia looked up with a hint of defiance and pride flashing in her eyes. "You heard that?"
"Heard what?" I played dumb.
"Charles landed the investment. People finally see what he's capable of."
She straightened up, acting like she was the one who'd hit the jackpot.
"Really? Congrats to him, I guess," I replied, sounding unfazed.
She clearly hated how unbothered I was, frowning deeply.
"Edward, don't get too full of yourself. Once Charles's company goes public, I'll pay you back for what you did to me," She declared with absolute conviction.
I almost laughed out loud.
Using my money to go against me? What a remarkable idea.
I set down my fork and knife and wiped my mouth with a napkin. Then I stood up and walked over to her.
I bent down to trap her between my arms against the backrest. "Babe, did you forget something?"
"What?" she replied, looking nervous as she shrank back.
"You and everything the Sinclair family owns belong to me now. Every dollar you spend has to go through me first.
"Do you really think you can use my money to support your toy boy?" I said, stressing every word.
Her face went pale in an instant. "W-What do you mean?"
"I mean—" I picked up her phone and scrolled through the endless list of purchases and wire transfers, smirking. "From today on, all your cards are getting frozen.
"Every month, you'll get 30 thousand as pocket change. As for the Sinclair Group—"
I deleted those transfer records and tossed the phone back into her arms. "I'll be taking over."
She shot up so fast that she knocked her chair over. "Edward, you can't do this. The Sinclair Group is my family's life's work."
"It's now a wedding gift for you," I said coldly, locking eyes with her. "I have every right to do whatever I want with my stuff."
"This is robbery," she shouted.
"No, this is simply me managing my assets," I replied.
I straightened my collar and turned to leave. "Stay home, and don't think about sneaking out to meet anyone you shouldn't. Otherwise, I'm not sure what I'll do to Charles."
My voice dropped to absolute ice.
She stood there, trembling, unable to say a single word.
Seeing her desperate and helpless, I didn't feel the slightest bit of pity.
This was only the beginning, Julia. The real game was getting started.
*****
I arrived at the CEO's office on the top floor of the Grant Group.
Tom was waiting by the door, arms loaded with files. "Mr. Grant."
I strode in, shrugged off my suit jacket, and tossed it onto the couch. "Bring me all the files on NovaTech."
"Got it," Tom replied.
He handed me an iPad without missing a beat. It had all the intel on Charles' company, including business registration, team bios, and the pitch deck for NovaStar 1.0.
I swiped through the screen quickly.
It was exactly the same as what I saw in the novel.
Charles was pretty clever. He took code he'd scraped from foreign open-source communities, gave it a fresh coat of paint, and passed it off as his own core technology.
With his sweet talk and grand promises, he tricked Julia into trusting him.
In the original story, Edward got totally lovestruck and let his guard down. He tried to win Julia over by buying out Charles' company, only to fall right into the trap Charles had set for him.
In the end, not only did the acquisition flop, but his core tech got swiped right from him, sending the stock price crashing and leaving the company broke.
What a total idiot.
I sneered.
Luckily, I was the one calling the shots now.
"Tom," I said.
"Yeah?" Tom replied.
"Tell the legal team to get ready to sue NovaTech for stealing trade secrets and patents."
"What?" Tom blinked, caught off guard. "Mr. Grant, are we making a move now? Do we have enough evidence?"
"The Genesis AI project files are all the evidence we need."
Genesis AI was a core AI system the Grant Group had been secretly working on for three years. It was never shown to anyone outside.
And the code Charles swiped was an early open-source test build of Genesis AI.
Back then, the Grant Group had anonymously dropped it on an overseas tech forum to attract talent, but it got deleted almost right away.
It turned out Charles managed to snag it.
"Mr. Grant, they've already secured Sinclair Group's investment. If we sue now, won't that—" Tom hesitated.
"What? Alert the target?" I smirked. "That's exactly what I want. I want him to know I've got my eyes on him.
"I'm not only making him spit out every penny he stole. I'm making him give back the whole Sinclair Group with interest."
Tom stared at me, his eyes wide with a mix of shock and disbelief. He'd been with me for years, but he'd never seen me this ruthless and confident.
Sure, the old Edward could be decisive in business, but the second Julia popped up, his brain would short out, and he'd turn into a hopeless idiot.
Today, Edward was like a whole new man, and his eyes gleamed with the thrill of a hunter spotting his prey.
"Got it, Mr. Grant. I'll get right on it." Tom gave a firm nod and strode out quickly.
I leaned back in my chair, fingers interlocked, gazing out at the sky.
Charles, don't disappoint me.
*****
Later that afternoon, I was buried in paperwork when Tom called again, and this time, his voice sounded a little off.
"Mr. Grant, there's something I'm not sure I should tell you," he said.
"Say it," I replied.
"I just got word that Mrs. Grant headed to Nook Café on the south side."
"Okay." I wasn't surprised in the slightest.
"She's meeting Charles."
"I know."
"Should I have someone go over and check it out?" Tom asked cautiously.
"No need."
I stood up and grabbed my suit jacket from the couch. "Stuffs like this are way more fun when handled in person. Tell the driver to pull the car around."
"Got it, Mr. Grant."
After hanging up, I sneered.
Julia, it seemed that the lesson I taught you last night wasn't enough. You were really pushing your luck now.
Perfect. I always loved a good challenge.