Chapter 249

When Braiden and Marisa were released from police custody, they went straight to the Sawyer estate.

Marshall and Luciano had been waiting at home for their return. As soon as their parents stepped through the door, both brothers rushed up to greet them.

“Dad, Mom—you’re finally home?”

Braiden nodded and gave them an approving look. “Good work, both of you. I didn’t expect you to pull strings so quickly. I thought we’d be stuck inside for at least a week, but we were out in just three days.”

Surprisingly, that comment left Marshall and Luciano exchanging confused glances. They looked at their father and said, “Wait... what do you mean we pulled strings?”

Braiden's brow furrowed. “Wasn’t it you two who got the charges dropped and arranged our early release!”

Braiden immediately picked up on their hesitation. His expression twitched for a second, then he brushed it off, offering a new interpretation to save face for his sons. “Well, whatever the case, looks like the evidence wasn’t strong enough to hold us. That bastard Nicolas must’ve thought he could send me to prison with just that. What a joke.”

At the mention of Nicolas, both Marshall and Luciano quickly chimed in.

“Exactly, Dad. He really thought he could bring you down that easily. But the authorities still fear the power of the Sawyer family.”

Braiden nodded in satisfaction.

“You two must be exhausted. Come, let’s sit in the living room and rest for a bit,” Marshall offered, guiding his parents toward the couch.

Seeing that the house was in order and nothing appeared out of place, Braiden finally allowed himself to relax. But soon enough, he asked, “Alright, what about the company? Everything okay while I was gone?”

That question immediately caused the brothers to tense.

“Something happened?” Braiden narrowed his eyes. “Out with it.”

“Just… a small hiccup,” Marshall muttered.

Luciano followed up, “Yeah, nothing major. It’s just… Bryan, Nicolas’s assistant, secretly recorded your arrest and posted it online. Since then, the company’s stock has been limit-down every day. A bunch of companies started buying up shares at bargain prices, so a decent chunk of our holdings got diluted.”

“What!” Braiden’s face went pale. He shot to his feet. “How much of our shares were bought up?”

Marshall hesitated before finally replying in a low voice, “Over half in just three days.”

“OVER HALF!” Braiden’s roar shook the entire house. He was livid.

He'd only been gone for three days. Three. And in that time, more than 50% of the Sawyer Group’s shares had slipped through their fingers. “What the hell were you two doing?” he shouted, face flushed with rage. “Three days! I was gone for three damn days, and you let the company slip away! Were you trying to hand the empire over to someone else?!”

It was rare for Braiden to lose his temper like this. Both Marshall and Luciano were stunned.

Marisa quickly stepped in, trying to calm things down. “Braiden! You’re the one who told them not to make any moves while you were away. Now you’re yelling at them for doing what you asked?”

Braiden’s chest rose and fell as he tried to catch his breath. He turned to his wife, gritting his teeth. “Yes, I told them to hold back, but any idiot should have realized the shares were slipping away. They should’ve tightened their grip, consolidated our holdings. If someone was using that as cover—”

“Dad, relax,” Marshall cut in. “The shares were bought by a bunch of scattered companies. None of them hold more than a small percentage. There’s no way they’re a threat to our control.”

“Right.” Luciano added quickly. “We double checked. All those companies are unconnected. Unless they all teamed up—practically impossible—we’re fine.”

Braiden slowly nodded, the logic sinking in.

Marisa saw his expression soften and jumped in to support her sons. “Exactly, Braiden. They’re not idiots. You yell at them for doing what you said, but if they’d taken initiative and things had gone wrong, you’d be yelling at them anyway. No matter what, they’re still better than that little bastard, Nicolas. If it were him running the company these past three days, the whole place would’ve been in flames by now.”

“Yeah,” Luciano muttered. “That idiot would’ve bankrupted the company.”

Marisa snorted. “Not surprising. His mother was just as clueless. How smart could he be?”

Braiden considered their words. He still didn't think highly of Marshall or Luciano, but at least compared to Nicolas… well, it could be worse.

Now that he was back, things would settle. Stock prices would bounce back, and once the panic buyers sold off, they’d scoop the shares back up. Everything would return to normal.

He finally sighed and said, “Just stay alert next time. This didn’t go too badly, but if someone had been orchestrating a coordinated attack, we’d be—”

“Don’t worry, Dad,” Marshall assured him. “Unless those companies all joined forces, there’s no way they could shake our control.” Braiden nodded.

But just as he started to relax, Marshall’s phone rang. He answered.

“Marshall—it’s bad," his assistant said in a panic.

“What now!” Marshall tensed.

Almost simultaneously, the family’s butler came rushing into the room.

“Mr. Sawyer–something’s happened!”

“What is it?” Braiden barked.

The butler swallowed nervously. “It’s the headlines, sir. United Press just announced that it’s completed a majority acquisition of the Sawyer Group. They now own 52% of the company.”

“What did you just say?” Braiden bolted upright. He stormed over and grabbed the butler by the collar. “That can’t be right! That’s fake news! I’ve never even heard of United Press!”

“I–I swear it’s true,” the butler stammered. “Their official documents have verified seals…”

“Impossible!” Braiden growled. “Didn’t you both just say the shares were scattered? Where did United Press come from?!”

Luciano chimed in, equally confused. “Yeah! That name never showed up in any of the trades!”

Marshall finally spoke, his voice hollow. “They didn’t buy the shares directly. United Press is the parent company. They used multiple smaller firms to acquire the shares piece by piece so we wouldn’t notice they were all connected.”

Braiden and Luciano turned to him in stunned silence.

“Oh, they have a grudge,” Marshall murmured with a bitter smile, his face pale.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Braiden grabbed his shoulder tightly. “Who the hell is United Press? Why are they doing this? What did I ever do to them?”

He had made plenty of enemies in his life, sure. But United Press? He didn’t even know them. At the very least, if he was going down, he wanted to know why.

Marshall looked at him, eyes wide, lips trembling.