Chapter 255: From The Ashes?

Chapter 255: Chapter 255: From The Ashes?

The back of the glossy black sedan was quiet, insulated from the distant rumble of Central Avenue’s evening traffic.

Troy Newman sat with his phone resting on his knee, the screen’s harsh white glare illuminating his tight, drawn features. His fingers tapped a sharp, agitated rhythm against the leather armrest.

He opened the ’Veyra Financial Network’ app, hoping to catch some piece of news he could leverage—a crack in the market, a sudden shift in commodity prices, anything. Instead, the bold top headline hit him like a physical blow.

[RIVERS AVIATION INCORPORATED: JAKE RIVERS CAPITALIZES NEW FIRM WITH 500M VM IN UNENCUMBERED EQUITY; ROYAL AVIATION STOCK PLUMMETS 24%]

Troy tapped the article, his eyes scanning the details in disbelief. Five hundred million marks. Pure, unencumbered liquid cash. Injected into a brand-new corporate entity on day one, fully absorbed without taking on a single copper of debt leverage.

Victor Perth’s voice echoed in his mind, sharp and condescending: ’What makes you think he doesn’t have another hundred billion sitting in a holding account? You cannot win a cash war against someone who can print liquidity at will.’

Troy’s jaw clenched so hard a muscle twitched violently near his temple. Victor had been right about the liquidity. Jake wasn’t just tied up in Aurelia Capitals or the Mult airport expansion; the kid was practically floating on an ocean of unencumbered capital.

"Enjoy it while you can, kid," Troy muttered under his breath, leaning back against the leather headrest as the driver pulled up to the security gate of ’The Spade Hart’, an exclusive, members-only establishment tucked away in the quiet diplomatic quarter.

Troy handed his coat to the valet, smoothed the tailored lapels of his suit, and followed the host down a dimly lit hallway paneled in dark walnut. They passed private dining nooks separated by heavy velvet drapes until they reached a secluded terrace room overlooking a private courtyard garden.

Sitting at a table near the glass doors, sipping a clear, iced spirit, was Julian Sterling.

Troy paused for a fraction of a second, observing the man.

Months ago, when the news broke that Julian had been stripped of his sixteen percent equity in the Meridian Group and forced to hand over Sterling Infrastructure’s prime construction subsidiary to Aurelia Capitals, the corporate world had assumed Julian would burn down the financial district in a fit of rage. He had vanished from the public eye almost immediately.

Yet, sitting here tonight, Julian looked remarkably unbothered. He wore a relaxed, tailored linen blazer over an open-collared silk shirt. His hair was impeccably groomed, his posture relaxed as he gazed out into the quiet garden. The stress lines that used to carve deep grooves around his mouth during the Meridian fight had softened completely.

He didn’t look like a ruined titan. He looked like a man on an extended, luxurious vacation.

’And why wouldn’t he?’ Troy thought bitterly. Even after being squeezed out of his prized possessions, Julian had walked away with over one hundred and twenty billion marks in pure, unencumbered liquid payout from the forced stock sales and corporate divestments. He had lost his prestige, his legacy, and his seat at the top of the industrial ladder, but his personal bank accounts were virtually bottomless.

"Julian," Troy said, stepping forward and extending a hand.

Julian looked up, his expression unreadable for a moment before a smooth, polite smile touched his lips. He stood, shaking Troy’s hand with a firm, measured grip. "Troy. It’s been a while. Sit down. The grill here is decent tonight."

Troy took the chair across from him, waving off the waiter who offered a menu. "I won’t waste your time with small talk, Julian. I know you’ve been keeping a low profile since... the incident."

Julian raised an eyebrow, taking a slow sip of his drink. "The ’incident’? You can say it plainly, Troy. I was ambushed by a pack of wolves in tailored suits. I lost a seat I held for twenty years. But as you can see, I am surviving."

"Surviving?" Troy leaned in, his voice dropping to an urgent murmur. "You’re sitting on a mountain of cash while the kid who humiliated you is parading around the capital like he owns every acre of pavement! Did you see the news tonight? He just dropped five hundred million marks into a brand-new aviation venture that he isn’t even heading himself! He’s throwing his weight around because nobody is standing up to him!"

Julian set his glass down with a soft, deliberate *clink*. His expression remained calm, almost completely detached. "Jake Rivers is aggressive, Troy. We all learned that the hard way. What is your point?"

Troy’s pulse quickened, Julian’s maddening, unbothered serenity grinding directly against his raw nerves. "My point is that he’s overplaying his hand!" Troy hissed, slamming a flat palm softly against the tablecloth. "He thinks he’s untouchable because he has Aurelia Capitals shielding his flank and the Meridian Group at his back. But he’s still just a twenty-three-year-old child! My ultimate goal is simple: I want Jake Rivers off the board of the Newman Enterprise Group. I want him stripped of his voting power and thrown out of our corporate structure entirely!"

Julian leaned back, a small, light smile touching the corners of his lips, though his eyes remained cool. "A noble quest, Troy. But why drag me into your family’s board drama?"

Troy leaned further over the table, lowering his voice into a razor-sharp whisper. "Because you have over a hundred billion marks sitting in cash! If you help me engineer a short squeeze and back my maneuver to purge Jake Rivers from the Newman Group, I will personally sign over half of my private equity shares in the Newman Enterprise Group directly to you."

Julian paused, swirling the ice in his glass as he let the offer hang in the air. Then, he let out a quiet, dry laugh.

"Half your shares?" Julian chuckled softly, shaking his head. "Troy, it seems Jake has bent both of us over his knee and forced major concessions. At least when he bent me over, I walked away with a handsome hundred-and-twenty-billion-mark payout."

A surge of hot fury spiked through Troy’s chest. His face flushed a deep crimson, his fists clenching underneath the table. It took every ounce of his willpower to keep his voice from breaking as he forced himself to maintain composure.

"I have never bent for anyone, Julian," Troy spat through gritted teeth, his tone ice-cold. "It was my foolish brother, Richard, and his pathetic excuse for a son who opened the door and handed that kid fifteen percent of our voting block on a silver platter just to protect their own skins! I am here to fix their cowardice."

Julian waved a lazy, dismissive hand, a faint smirk lingering on his face. "Ah, my mistake. I apologize, Troy. It was your family’s incompetence that opened the door, not yours."

Troy took a slow, deep breath, forcing the white-hot anger back down into his chest. "Are you going to help me kick him out or not?"

Julian set his glass down completely, his demeanor shifting slightly as he looked at Troy with something resembling mild pity. "Let me give you some advice, free of charge, Troy. Abandon this little crusade of yours."

Troy froze, his eyes narrowing into slits. "What?"

"I spent twenty years building Sterling Infrastructure," Julian said smoothly, his tone turning reflective. "I thought I knew how the power dynamics in this city worked. But when I sat in Box 1 at the Meridian auction, I realized something very clearly. You aren’t just fighting Jake Rivers."

"I know about Aurelia Capitals," Troy interrupted impatiently. "I know about the conglomerate families—"

"I’m not talking about Aurelia Capitals," Julian cut him off, his eyes fixing on Troy with a sharp, heavy intensity. "If you go after Jake, are you prepared to deal with the Roys family?"

Troy blinked, caught completely off guard. "The Roys family? What does the Roys family have to do with Jake Rivers? They never intervene in local corporate spats."

Julian smiled faintly, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the wooden table. "During the auction night—the night my fate was sealed—Elizabeth Roys was sitting in the very same room. She didn’t say much. But the way she watched him... the way she interacted with him... it wasn’t business formality, Troy. Elizabeth Roys and Jake Rivers are exceptionally close."

Troy stared at him, his mind racing to process the implication. "Close? Elizabeth Roys? You mean the patriarch’s daughter? The beloved daughter of the marshal?"

"The very same," Julian said, his voice dropping into a conspiratorial undertone, sounding genuinely concerned for Troy’s well-being. "If you poke at Jake, you aren’t just poking at a lucky young trader or a consortium of heirs. You risk pulling the Roys family into the arena. And if Elizabeth decides to intervene in his favor, your family’s firm won’t even survive long enough to file for bankruptcy. Walk away, Troy. Enjoy your board seat and leave the boy alone."

Troy sat back, his chest heaving slightly as a thick, heavy silence settled over the table.

Julian picked up his drink again, taking a quiet sip as he watched the wheels turning in Troy’s head.

Troy’s initial frustration began to warp into something far more insidious. ’Elizabeth Roys and Jake Rivers... close?’

Everyone in high society knew Jake Rivers was publicly involved with Catharine. It was no secret; they were seen together multiple times. If Jake was also secretly tied to Elizabeth Roys—or if there was a subtle, unacknowledged connection between them—that wasn’t just a business alliance. That was a massive, explosive vulnerability.

’If the public found out... if Catharine found out... or if the delicate balance between those elite circles was disrupted...’

Troy’s eyes brightened with a dark, scheming light. He didn’t need to defeat Jake’s bottomless bank account in a straight capital war. He just needed to fracture his foundation. A scandal involving the Roys family and Jake’s private life could destabilize his credibility and force him off the board faster than any short position ever could.

Across the table, Julian caught the exact moment Troy’s expression shifted from blind rage to sly, dangerous ambition.

Julian lowered his glass, a tiny, almost imperceptible smirk playing at the corner of his lips. He hadn’t told Troy about Elizabeth out of concern for the man’s survival. He had deliberately tossed a lit match into a dry pile of leaves.

’Go ahead, Troy,’ Julian thought to himself, his serene, peaceful mask firmly back in place as he watched the younger executive drown in his own calculations. ’Try to play a game using Elizabeth Roys against Jake Rivers. This should be fun.’

---