Drake inhaled shakily, finally blurting out, “We’re over, Boss. Our entire operation in Wolly City has been destroyed.”
Victor’s expression froze, his face pale despite the rising anger. His heart skipped a beat. “What do you mean… destroyed?” he asked quietly, though his trembling hands betrayed the storm brewing inside him.
“Our company… it’s bankrupt,” Drake said, his voice dropping to a near whisper. “In the last two hours, every single one of our business partners betrayed us. They pulled their shares, broke their deals, and cut ties completely.”
Victor’s breath hitched. His eyes widened in disbelief. “What…?”
“It gets worse,” Drake continued reluctantly, his gaze darting away from Victor’s face. “Our stock prices plummeted. We lost everything, Boss hundreds of millions of dollars in seconds. In total, the losses are estimated at… three billion.”
Victor’s vision blurred for a moment as the words sank in. Three billion.
Drake kept going, his words tumbling out faster now. “Our real estate ventures have been forcibly shut down. Every foothold we had in Wolly City all the investments, all the plans it’s all been destroyed. Our workers have resigned en masse. We’re left with nothing but empty buildings and abandoned projects. It’s… it’s over.”
Victor’s lips trembled slightly as he tried to process what he was hearing. His chest felt tight, his breath coming in shallow bursts. “How… how did this happen?” he asked, his voice cracking.
Drake hesitated, fear flashing in his eyes. “Boss, three of the four great families made public announcements,” he said carefully. “They openly declared that anyone associated with our company or with you, specifically would face total destruction. Every one of our business partners panicked. They betrayed us without a second thought, even knowing they’d take massive losses themselves. And…”
Victor’s hands tightened again, his knuckles white against Drake’s collar. “And WHAT?” he barked, his voice shaking with fury.
Drake’s voice dropped even lower, barely audible. “It seems… even the royal family had a hand in it. Their influence was behind the scenes, but it’s unmistakable.”
Victor froze, his entire body going rigid. His mind reeled. The great families AND the royal family? In a matter of hours, they had destroyed everything he had spent years building. The painstaking work, the sacrifices it was all gone.
“WHAT THE F***?!” Victor’s roar echoed through the room as he released Drake with a violent shove, sending him stumbling back. Victor’s trembling hands grabbed at the nearest object a glass resting on the side table and hurled it across the room. It shattered against the wall with a deafening crash.
He stood up abruptly, ignoring the searing pain in his bandaged nose as he began knocking over tables and smashing whatever he could find. His breathing was ragged, his chest heaving as the reality of his loss set in.
“Three years,” he hissed, his voice raw. “Three f***ing years! All my work, gone! Because of those cowards!”
Drake remained frozen near the door, too terrified to speak or move. He knew better than to try calming Victor down in this state.
Victor’s rampage slowed after a moment, his chest rising and falling with labored breaths. He ran a trembling hand through his hair, his teeth grinding audibly.
“Hah… hah…” he exhaled heavily, his lips curling into a twisted smirk. “Good. Very good,” he muttered, his voice eerily calm now. “You want to play this game? Fine. Let’s play.”
He turned to Drake, his eyes gleaming with a dangerous light. “They think this is over?” he said, his voice low and venomous. “It’s not. This wasn’t my true power. They’ve only taken a fraction of what’s mine.”
Drake blinked, confused but still too frightened to speak.
Victor smirked darkly, his hands clenching into fists. “Call my foreign contacts. Bring in my real power. I’ll show them what happens when they dare to fight me when they dare to cross Victor Vanez.”
His bandaged nose began to bleed again, the red seeping through the white gauze as he spoke. But Victor didn’t seem to notice or care. His rage was all-consuming, driving him forward.
“They’ll pay for this,” he murmured, his voice filled with cold determination. “Every last one of them will pay.”
Drake swallowed hard, his legs rooted to the spot as Victor’s words lingered in the air, heavy and foreboding. The tension in the room was palpable, the faint hum of the air conditioning doing little to mask the crackling atmosphere.
“Don’t, Boss…” Drake finally spoke, his voice trembling as he dared to meet Victor’s fiery gaze. “Don’t make decisions in anger. We had our plans plans you made. If you go all in now, it’ll destroy everything you’ve worked for.”
Victor’s glare didn’t waver, but Drake pressed on, his words stumbling out like a lifeline. “Even if we bring all our cards to the table, there’s a good chance we’ll lose everything. Even if we somehow win, the cost would be…” He hesitated, swallowing hard before continuing. “…it would be catastrophic.”
Drake’s voice dropped lower, his tone almost pleading. “That’s the whole reason we set up the Wolly City plans, Boss. To avoid this kind of chaos. If you go after them now, in this state, it’s suicide for all of us.”
Victor’s fist clenched at his side, his nails digging into his palm. “Yeah… I f***ing KNOW THAT!” he roared suddenly, his voice reverberating through the room.
His fist lashed out, connecting with the wall beside him. A loud crack echoed as the impact left a jagged dent in the plaster. Victor’s breathing was heavy, ragged, as if he was fighting to regain control of himself. His knuckles throbbed, but the pain barely registered.
For a moment, the room was still.
Victor stood there, his chest heaving as he stared at the damaged wall, his back turned to Drake. Then, with a deep, measured breath, he exhaled slowly. His shoulders relaxed slightly as he straightened his posture.
He adjusted his collar, smoothing the fabric as if nothing had happened, his movements slow and deliberate. When he finally turned around, his face was composed, his expression unreadable a stark contrast to the fury that had consumed him moments before.
“Good,” Victor said, his voice cool and clipped. “We won’t go down that path. Not yet.” He smirked faintly, though there was no humor in it. “But this… this isn’t over. I can see why this happened now. And I’m sure that bastard Lucian is behind it.”
Drake blinked, caught off guard. “Lucian?”
Victor nodded slowly, his eyes narrowing. “Yes. The last time I suffered losses, it was because of conflicts with him. Back then, I was confused, unsure how a second-generation waste could be the source of so many problems. But now… now it’s clear.”
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He began pacing, his movements calculated but brimming with restrained energy. “His fighting skills. His sudden competence. This can’t be a coincidence.” His voice grew colder with each word. “The Starline family, Rose, Olivia… the entire Kane family must be involved. They’ve backed him somehow. But why?”
Victor’s pacing slowed as his mind raced. “What I don’t understand is why the other families are interfering. And the Royal family…” He paused, his brow furrowing deeply. “Who the hell is pulling the strings there?”
“Boss,” Drake interrupted hesitantly, his tone cautious. “I… I received another piece of information.”
Victor stopped mid-step, turning sharply toward Drake. “What information?” he asked, his voice low and dangerous.
Drake shifted uneasily, the weight of what he was about to say evident on his face. “The Queen sent a message.”
Victor’s eyes narrowed, his lips curling slightly. “A message? What kind of message? Is she threatening me now?” He let out a bitter laugh. “Hah! And here I thought our relations with her were great after all those deals. Is this her way of repaying me?”
“No, Boss,” Drake said quickly, shaking his head. “I… I don’t think it’s a threat. From what I can tell, the Queen doesn’t seem to be aware of what’s happened.”
Victor’s gaze darkened further. “Then what the hell did she say?”
Drake hesitated for a moment before continuing. “She… she’s asking for your help.”
Victor’s brows shot up in disbelief. “Help?” he asked, his tone dripping with incredulity. “The Queen wants my help? After everything that just happened?”
“Yes,” Drake confirmed, nodding nervously. “She said the Princess Celestia has run away from the royal palace. Apparently, she fled to Wolly City. The Queen wants you to… take care of her.”
Victor stared at Drake, his expression unreadable as he processed the information. Slowly, his lips twisted into a bitter smirk.
“Take care of her?” he repeated mockingly. “Hah. Is she playing games with me now? Let’s say, for argument’s sake, that the Queen wasn’t behind this disaster. What then? Was it Celestia? Or maybe Arthur?” His voice dripped with venom as he continued. “How convenient that this all happens, and now she runs to my territory.”
Drake didn’t respond, too afraid to interrupt Victor’s thoughts.
Victor exhaled sharply, rubbing his temples with one hand. “Why did the Princess run here?” he muttered to himself. “What’s her angle?”
The room fell into silence as Victor stood there, his thoughts a whirlwind of suspicion and fury. The events of the day weighed heavily on him, each revelation piling onto the last.
Finally, he let out a low, frustrated growl, running his hand through his disheveled hair. “So many damn problems in one day,” he muttered, his voice barely audible. “I don’t even know where to start untangling this mess.”
He turned back to Drake, his smirk returning, though it was devoid of any warmth. “Fine. We’ll handle this one step at a time. But mark my words…” His voice dropped to a dangerous whisper, his eyes gleaming with cold determination. “They’ll regret crossing me. Every single one of them.”
Drake nodded stiffly, though his face remained tense. He knew better than to offer advice now.
Victor’s bandaged nose had started bleeding again, the red seeping through the white gauze as a testament to his earlier outburst. He wiped at it absently, as if the pain didn’t matter.
“They think they’ve won,” Victor murmured, his voice low and sinister. “Let them. For now.”
—