Chapter 131: Shaking at the Truth

Down at the street-level entrance of the Heavens Club, Arthur Snyder and his father had barely stepped out onto the sidewalk toward their waiting Maybach when the phone in the elder Snyder’s pocket began to buzz.

Pulling it out and seeing the caller ID for Jacob Ward, Arthur’s father felt his stomach drop.

He took a breath, swiped the screen, and held the phone to his ear.

"Mr. Ward..." he said, keeping his voice low.

"I take it the envelopes have been opened?" Ward’s voice was cool. "How did the sale go?"

Arthur’s father clenched his jaw so hard his teeth hurt. "Mr. Ward, Chelsea Lee handed the Heavens Club straight to Jude Lawson! The 2 of them rigged the entire auction before anyone even walked through the door. She played every family in the room for fools!"

"Chelsea Lee gave the club to Jude Lawson?"

For the 1st time, Ward sounded genuinely caught off guard. "Why would someone like Chelsea Lee have anything to do with Jude Lawson? What’s the connection?"

"Nobody in the ballroom has a clue," he said bitterly, glaring back at the towering building behind them. "All I know is that she gave him the deed 5 minutes ago for a joke bid of $100,000!"

There was a 2-second pause on the other end. "Understood. I see what happened."

Hearing that Ward was about to hang up, Arthur’s father broke into sweat and blurted out, "Wait, Mr. Ward! Because of that $5 billion bid, our family accounts just took a $500 million penalty hit! Can the syndicate help us cover any of that?"

"Did I stutter when we spoke earlier, Snyder?" Ward’s voice turned freezing cold. "I made the rules very clear: if you won the Heavens Club with the $5 billion I authorized, your family got 20 percent equity and full control. If you lost, the 10 percent penalty came out of your own pockets."

"B-But Mr. Ward, that wasn’t a real auction! Chelsea Lee set a trap!" he pleaded, panicking.

On the other end, Ward paused for a moment before his tone turned sharp. "The $500 million is gone. Your family will eat that cost. However... now that Chelsea Lee has stepped away and left the club in Jude Lawson’s hands, there’s an easy way to take it all back."

The despair on the elder Snyder’s face vanished. "What do you have in mind, sir?"

"Chelsea spent 5 years building the reputation of that place, while Jude Lawson just walked through the door tonight with 0 friends in those circles," Ward explained. "The real value of the Heavens Club isn’t the building or the bar... it’s the 300 billionaires who do business inside it. If we hit him now before he finds his footing, we can pull every single member out of his building."

Arthur’s father took a quick breath, standing a little taller by the car door. "How do we pull a crowd like that, sir?"

"4 blocks away on Park Avenue sits the Triumph Club," Ward said evenly. "I’ve already cut a deal with their board to buy it out. Tomorrow morning, I’ll wire the purchase money, and your family will take over as the owners."

"Buying a flagship club on Park Avenue must cost a fortune..." Arthur muttered from beside him.

"The money is my problem; running it is yours," Ward answered. "I’m handing you the Triumph Club with 1 goal: within 6 months, I want every CEO and power broker who drinks at the Heavens Club doing business at the Triumph Club instead. Is that clear?"

"Crystal clear, Mr. Ward!" Arthur’s father barked, all the humiliation from earlier turning into excitement. "Going after Chelsea Lee would’ve been impossible... but crushing a kid like Jude Lawson is a walk in the park! What does a 20-something nobody know about running an elite club?!"

The Snyders never expected a $500 million loss to turn into an even bigger prize.

Losing the deposit hurt, but having Jacob Ward pay for a rival club on Park Avenue meant they could starve Jude’s new business and run Midtown themselves!

"The money will hit your account at 9 tomorrow morning," Ward said. "Meet with the Triumph Club’s directors before noon and close the deal."

The call ended. Arthur’s father put the phone away with a mean grin, slapping Arthur on the shoulder as they climbed into the Maybach.

Back up on the top floor of the Heavens Club, the last of the rich guests finished toasting Jude and headed for the elevators.

Jude turned around and walked down the hallway toward the founder’s private suite at the back.

Pushing the double doors open, he found Chelsea relaxing on a velvet couch, scrolling through her phone.

Hearing him walk in, she put the phone down and looked up with a smile.

"Did the sharks finally leave?"

"Every last 1," Jude said. He walked over, sat down in the chair across the glass table from her, and locked eyes with her. "I signed the papers on stage just like you wanted, Chelsea. Now keep your end of the deal... tell me why you set up this whole circus tonight."

Chelsea rested her chin on her hand, looking totally relaxed. "Didn’t I tell you on the dance floor? I just went with my gut."

Jude frowned, his patience wearing thin. "Are you telling me you actually have feelings for me?"

Chelsea laughed, rolling her eyes toward the ceiling. "Could you be any more full of yourself, Jude Lawson? Do you have any idea how many rich heirs and princes line up across the globe just to talk to me for 5 minutes? I’ve met the most powerful men in the world... why would I fall head-over-heels for a stubborn guy like you?"

"Then stop talking in circles!" Jude’s voice dropped, genuinely irritated. "Why hand me a $3 billion club and a $1 billion cash pile for nothing? What do you actually want?!"

Looking at his stare, the playful smirk faded from Chelsea’s face.

"Give me a second," she said.

She got up from the couch, walked over to an old wooden desk by the window, and unlocked a private drawer.

A moment later, she came back holding 2 photographs.

She laid the 1st picture face-up on the glass table between them. "Take a look at this 1st."

Surprised by how serious she looked, Jude reached out and picked it up.

The photo had been taken years ago on a stone terrace, showing 2 young women standing side by side.

Even though she looked younger in the picture, Jude could easily tell 1 of them was Chelsea.

Then his eyes moved to the woman standing next to her.

Every muscle in Jude’s body locked up. The breath got stuck in his throat, and his mind went completely blank.

"Where did you get this picture?!" Jude’s voice shook as he stared across at Chelsea. "Who is the woman next to you?!"

"That was taken at our family estate years ago," Chelsea said, looking right back at him. "The woman standing next to me is my older sister."

"Bullshit!" Jude half-stood from his chair, his fingers gripping the edges of the photo so hard the paper bent. "My mother told me my entire life that she had no living family anywhere! You’re making this up... that’s impossible!"

Instead of arguing, Chelsea slid the 2nd photo across the table.

This 1 was a formal family portrait taken inside a grand mansion, showing dozens of people from a wealthy clan.

And standing right in the front row, right next to Chelsea, was the exact same woman whose gentle smile was burned into Jude’s memory:

His late mother.

"This is our family portrait," Chelsea said, her voice quiet. "If you think it’s fake, take both of them to any lab in the world tonight to test the paper and ink."

Staring down at his mother’s face in the middle of a family she swore she never had, Jude felt the whole room tilt around him.

"No..." he whispered, his throat dry. "There’s no way this is real."