Chapter 243
The call connected quickly.
“Hello. Noelle.” A calm, velvety male voice came through the phone–it was Nicolas.
His tone was steady, gentle, even laced with a faint smile. There wasn’t a hint of stress or tension, as if that breaking news headline about his shares meant nothing to him.
“Nicolas,” Noelle’s voice, in contrast, was filled with urgency. “I just saw the headlines–they’re saying the Sawyer family is trying to reclaim 30% of your shares!”
“Mhm, that’s right,” Nicolas replied, with an easy chuckle, as if it were nothing.
“They can’t do that!” Noelle huffed, clearly upset. “Those shares were passed down to you from your mom! What right do they have to take them?”
But Nicolas didn’t seem bothered in the slightest. Patiently, he explained, “It’s because Reyna quit the industry. The Sawyer family found out I was the one who orchestrated it behind the scenes, which caused their stock to plummet. So now, they’re using the excuse of damaging family harmony to try and reclaim the shares.”
“What? Just for that?” Noelle gasped. She remembered Reyna’s drama well–how she tried to get her canceled online, and even pushed to get her thrown in jail. Nicolas had been the one to step in, clear her name with evidence, and expose Reyna’s dirty laundry in the process.
Now the Sawyers were punishing Nicolas for that? Didn’t that mean… she was the one dragging him down!
“Nicolas, this was my fight with Reyna! Should I talk to your family and explain it was me who pushed you to go after her?” she offered anxiously.
Nicolas let out a warm laugh. “You silly girl, you really think I’d let you go beg the Sawyer family on my behalf?”
“But what about your shares!” Noelle still sounded distressed. She knew Nicolas was wealthy in his own right, but the Sawyer shares were his mother’s legacy. It wasn’t fair for them to just take them away.
While Noelle was stressing herself out, Nicolas on the other end seemed to be quietly amused.
“Nicolas, what are you laughing at?” she demanded, suspicious.
Nicolas, unable to hold back anymore, finally said, “Alright, I’ll be honest–I’m the one who leaked the news to the Sawyer family.”
“What?!” Noelle was stunned.
Bennett, sitting beside her, raised an eyebrow. Just as I thought. He leaked it himself. That means he’s got something big planned.
If Nicolas was willing to orchestrate this kind of maneuver, he wasn’t just smart–he was downright dangerous. But, thankfully, Bennett thought, this dangerously cunning man is on Noelle’s side. That kind of loyalty is priceless.
“Why would you do that?” Noelle asked, flustered.
As always, Nicolas answered her with patience and clarity.
“Because I’m done with the Sawyer family. I’m using Reyna’s scandal as a starting point to take over the entire group.”
He continued, “Reclaiming those shares isn’t easy–they’d have to buy them back. And that would cost the Sawyer family a massive amount of capital. They probably think that once they get the shares back, everything will return to normal. But without that money, their stock will drop even further. At that point, I'll use the very money they gave me to buy back even more of their shares. Eventually, the company will be mine.”
Noelle’s eyes widened in awe. “Wait… so you’re planning to let them buy the shares back, then use that money to scoop up their stocks at a discount?”
“Smart girl,” Nicolas chuckled. “Exactly.”
“Savage,” Bennett couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s not just business. That’s psychological warfare.”
Nicolas paused for a second. “Noelle, is someone with you? That sounded like Bennett.”
“Yeah, it’s Bennett,” Noelle answered.
Bennett leaned closer to the phone and greeted him with a pleasant voice, “Long time no see, Nicolas.”
There was a beat of silence before Nicolas replied–his tone still polite, but clearly cool.
Bennett, unfazed, added casually. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but Noelle saw the headline and was worried about you, so she called right away–and I happened to be in the car.”
Nicolas didn’t particularly like Bennett. He still hadn’t forgotten the time Bennett purposely cut Noelle’s hand to get a blood sample. And now the guy had the nerve to be all uninvited.
But both men were skilled at hiding their true thoughts. Nicolas responded with his usual elegance, “It’s fine. You’re Noelle’s brother–so that makes us family, in a way. Just… please keep what I said between us.”
The acquisition plan had to be confidential. If the Sawyers caught wind of it, they might delay or block the sale entirely.
“You have my word,” Bennett said smoothly. Then he asked, “But Nicolas, the Sawyer Group is massive. Reyna’s scandal didn’t dent their stock that much. If you’re buying shares, you’ll still need a huge amount of capital, right?”
“Don’t worry,” Nicolas replied calmly. “I’ve already got a plan in motion to drive their stock even lower.”
“Is that so?” Bennett didn’t push further. If Nicolas said he had a plan, then he definitely did.
But Noelle was way too curious to let it go. “Nicolas, what’s the plan?” she asked eagerly.
And just like that, she exposed how completely she trusted Nicolas–even in front of someone like Bennett.
But Nicolas didn’t mind. He was more than happy to keep her in the loop.
“You remember what I told you about how the Sawyer family slandered my mother, right? That they labeled her a homewrecker!”
Noelle nodded hard. “Of course I remember. The Sawyers are awful.”
She recalled everything Nicolas had once told her; how his mother, a naive and sheltered heiress, had been tricked by his father. She’d given up family, her fortune, everything–just to marry a man who turned out to be a widower with two sons from a previous marriage.
She’d even donated her personal wealth to rebuild the failing Sawyer empire…
Then, when the company bounced back, the so-called “deceased” first wife returned–and public opinion turned on Nicolas’s mother.
Rumors spread like wildfire. People said she’d tried to murder the first wife to steal her place. The family shunned her, the public vilified her, and in the end, she died from depression–alone and disgraced.
To make things worse, Nicolas’s father remarried the first wife before his mother’s seven-day mourning period was over.
What the world called “a beautiful reunion,” was, in reality, a grotesque betrayal.
Noelle remembered all of it–and her heart ached fiercely for Nicolas.
Then his voice came through the line again, softer this time.
“It’s been long enough. It’s time the truth came out. It’s time my mother’s name was cleared–once and for all. This time, I’ll settle everything with the Sawyer family.”