Chapter 59: Succession

Serena stopped a few feet away. "I maintain active relationships with the managing directors of every single elite brokerage in this city. If I make one phone call, your resume goes straight into the shredder. You will never secure a luxury real estate license in this district."

Clara’s face drained of color. "You... you can’t do that. That’s tortious interference!"

Serena threw her head back and laughed loudly.

"Tortious interference? Please," Serena mocked. "I personally manage the exclusive leasing rights to over two dozen ultra-luxury corporate estates. My portfolio generates tens of millions in agency revenue every single quarter. Because I bring in the capital, I dictate the market. My word is absolute law, Clara."

The junior brokers flanking Serena immediately chimed in, eager to validate their queen.

"Serena is the undisputed titan of the Sunstone District!" one of them bragged. "Nobody crosses her and survives in this industry!"

"Exactly! Every agency in the city is begging to recruit her because of her elite inventory," another added. "If Serena wants you blacklisted, you might as well apply for a job flipping burgers!"

Jude stepped in front of his cousin, shielding her from the toxic barrage.

Serena stopped laughing, her eyes narrowing as she finally acknowledged Jude’s presence.

She looked him up and down, taking in his suit and immaculate grooming.

"And who exactly are you supposed to be?" Serena demanded, placing a hand on her hip. "Her older brother? Her boyfriend? It’s cute that you’re trying to play the hero, but you have no power here."

"Yeah!" one of the junior brokers laughed. "What is he going to do? Write you a bad Yelp review?"

Serena sneered, looking Jude in the eye. "I am going to destroy her career today, and there is nothing you can do to stop it. What are you going to do? Magically conjure up a dozen high-net-worth clients for her? Grant her exclusive access to elite property inventory? Don’t be ridiculous. You don’t have the capital to fight me."

Clara, terrified that Serena’s vindictive reach might somehow impact Jude’s career, grabbed his sleeve.

"Jude, please, don’t engage with them," Clara pleaded softly. "She’s right. She controls the entire luxury leasing market. Let’s just leave before she causes problems for you, too."

Jude didn’t budge a single millimeter.

He looked down at his cousin, a predatory smile spreading across his face.

"You don’t need to beg Pinnacle for a desk, Clara, nor do you need to submit your resume to any competing firm in this city," Jude said, completely ignoring Serena. "As it happens, I recently acquired a new piece of real estate in the Sunstone District. I require an exclusive property manager to oversee the leasing logistics. Consider the contract yours."

For a fraction of a second, the lobby was silent.

Then, Serena burst into a fit of hysterica laughter.

"Oh, my god! Did you all hear that?!" Serena shrieked, wiping a tear of mirth from her eye. "He has an apartment he wants her to manage! He’s going to hire her to lease out his little condo!"

The entire clique of brokers devolved into breathless laughter, pointing at Jude as if he had just delivered the punchline to a brilliant joke.

"How many units do you own, tough guy?" Serena mocked, stepping closer. "Two? Maybe three? Let me educate you on how this industry works. Even if you scraped together enough pennies to mortgage five basic condos, my luxury portfolio will still crush you into dust. You cannot compete with my inventory. You have no capital."

Even Clara looked deeply concerned, her instincts warring with her gratitude. "Jude, I appreciate the lifeline, I really do. But managing a handful of residential apartments won’t generate enough commission to sustain a career in this district. If I fail to lease them, I’ll just end up losing you money."

Jude chuckled. He reached up and adjusted his cuffs, his gaze locking onto Serena’s arrogant face.

"I believe you misunderstood the scale of my portfolio, Serena," Jude said.

"I don’t own a few residential units. I own the Obsidian Tower. All ninety floors of the skyscraper."

Jude paused, letting the financial gravity of the statement crush the oxygen out of the room.

"And Clara is going to be the sole managing broker for the entire three-billion-dollar asset."

The bustling lobby of Pinnacle Real Estate instantly plunged into a breathless silence...

The silence in the lobby held for exactly three seconds before Serena’s ego rejected the reality in front of her.

"You are out of your mind!" Serena shrieked, her manicured finger pointing at Jude’s chest. "Do you honestly expect me to believe that Clara’s middle-class cousin just purchased a three-billion-dollar skyscraper? You are a pathetic, delusional liar!"

Serena turned to her clique, waving her hands frantically. "Pinnacle Real Estate holds the exclusive management contracts for every single major commercial and residential high-rise in the Sunstone District! If a massive asset like the Obsidian Tower had been bought out by a single private entity, our executive board would have been notified immediately! He’s just making up ridiculous lies to salvage Clara’s bruised ego!"

Clara looked up at Jude, her eyes wide with genuine confusion.

She knew Jude was successful, but the Obsidian Tower was a legendary piece of real estate.

"Jude... did you actually acquire a building?" Clara asked, terrified that he was overplaying his hand.

Jude withdrew his tablet from the inner pocket of his jacket. He bypassed the military-grade biometric firewall with a tap of his thumb, accessing the master ledger of Lawson Capital.

He pulled up the digitally notarized property deed and turned the screen toward Serena.

Resting in the center of the display was the golden corporate seal of the city’s municipal registry.

Serena’s face drained of blood. She stared at the screen, her breathing shallow. However, her deeply ingrained arrogance refused to let her capitulate.

"No! This is a forgery!" Serena gasped, taking a stumbling step backward. "It has to be a fake! I hold the leasing rights to the top five ultra-luxury penthouses in the Obsidian Tower! I’ve already processed the deposits and signed the preliminary leases with my VIP clients! Pinnacle manages those units!"

Jude slowly lowered the tablet, his eyes turning into chips of ice.

"You have processed leasing deposits on the top five penthouses of *my* sovereign asset?" Jude asked.

His voice was incredibly low. "You executed legally binding contracts on my property without my explicit authorization?"

"Where is your Managing Director?" Jude demanded. "Bring him to me. Now."

Before anyone could move, the doors leading to the executive suites burst open.

Director Bradley, the Managing Director of Pinnacle Real Estate, rushed onto the lobby floor.

He had heard the escalating commotion from his office and was furious that his brokers were causing a scene in a high-end corporate environment.

Serena immediately spotted him and lunged forward, pointing a shaking finger at Jude. "Director Bradley! This man is a fraud! He just walked in here with a forged digital deed claiming he owns the Obsidian Tower! Have security throw him out before he ruins our reputation!"

Bradley followed Serena’s frantic gesture.

The Managing Director stopped dead in his tracks.

All the color washed out of his face, his jaw dropping in horror. He recognized the Wall Street billionaire instantly...

Ignoring Serena’s hysterical ranting, Bradley sprinted across the floor.

Sweat beaded on his forehead as he skidded to a halt in front of Jude.

"Mr. Lawson!" Bradley gasped. "My god, sir... it is an absolute honor! I... we have been attempting to contact your offshore holding company since the three-billion-dollar wire transfer cleared the federal registry yesterday!"

"Director Bradley," Jude said. "Your senior broker just informed me that she has preemptively leased out the top five penthouses of my newly acquired skyscraper. Care to explain why my premium inventory is being manipulated without my signature?"

Bradley swallowed hard, looking as if he were about to face a firing squad.

He wiped a handkerchief across his forehead, offering a pathetic smile.

"Mr. Lawson, please understand, we meant no disrespect!" Bradley stammered. "The Obsidian Tower is the most coveted architectural masterpiece in the city. The moment the market realized the developer had sold the entire building to a single entity, our phones erupted. The VIP demand was so incredibly aggressive that we... we accepted the deposits to secure the clientele on your behalf!"

Bradley gestured to the trembling brokers. "We were simply holding the millions in our secure escrow accounts! We intended to hand the entire sum directly to you the moment you graced our offices! We just wanted to ensure your new asset was immediately profitable!"

"Director Bradley," Serena whispered. "He... he actually bought the whole tower?"

Bradley’s head snapped toward Serena, his eyes blazing with fury.

"Shut your mouth, Serena!" Bradley roared. "Do you have any idea who you are talking to?! Mr. Lawson’s portfolio is worth more than this entire agency! Why are you standing there like an idiot?! Apologize to him immediately, or I swear I will ensure you never work in this industry again!"

"I find it incredibly offensive that my top-tier penthouses were assigned to a broker who just maliciously terminated my cousin’s employment," Jude stated. "Clara’s metrics were flawless. Yet, your firm fired her to appease a petty tyrant."

Bradley looked at Clara, then back at Jude, his eyes widening in panic. "Mr. Lawson, I swear I had no idea Clara was your bloodline! It was a complete miscommunication!"

"It doesn’t matter," Jude dismissed. "I demand a full audit of the escrow accounts by the end of the hour. I want every single cent of the deposits transferred to my holding company. Furthermore, I am reconsidering whether Pinnacle Real Estate possesses the operational competency required to manage a three-billion-dollar asset."

Bradley’s knees buckled. L

osing the exclusive management contract for the Obsidian Tower would be a catastrophic blow to Pinnacle’s quarterly earnings. It was their crown jewel.

"Mr. Lawson, I beg you, please do not revoke the contract!" Bradley pleaded, bowing so low his head nearly touched the floor. "Name your terms! We will satisfy any demand you have! We will restructure the entire agency if we have to!"