CHAPTER 45: CHAPTER 45: TANYA SINCLAIR HAS A LOVER OUTSIDE!

At this moment, Vincent Hawthorne was driving towards the Hawthorne Family mansion, his suit jacket tossed on the back seat, and his personal phone vibrating in his pocket being ignored.

Upon returning to the Hawthorne Family mansion, the first person he saw when entering the foyer was Father Hawthorne, Theodore Hawthorne, seated on the sofa with a dark expression, smoking a cigar with a thick layer of white ash accumulating in the ashtray in front of him.

Theodore Hawthorne had one hand on the phone, his expression worsening the more he listened.

He said heavily, "Old Master Crawford, we’ve drafted the contract already, what do you mean by backing out on investing at this time?"

"President Hawthorne, consider this my apology to you, but if I continue to cooperate with you, my company will be next in line to see its stock prices plunge tomorrow!"

The other party hung up in a hurry, unwilling to say another word.

Theodore Hawthorne suppressed his anger and dialed again, but the opposite side refused to answer.

"Backstabbing old codger!" Theodore Hawthorne cursed in anger, the veins on his forehead bulging hideously.

Vincent Hawthorne, seeing the situation, also wore a solemn expression and poured Theodore Hawthorne a cup of tea.

"Dad, I’ve already reached out to my contacts to investigate. We should have information soon, and I want to see who is targeting our Hawthorne Family!"

Zenith Group was founded single-handedly by Theodore Hawthorne’s father, but Old Master Hawthorne had four children, three sons, and a daughter, all of whom were promising. Therefore, despite being the eldest son, Theodore Hawthorne was not the sole heir to the group but shared stock ownership with his siblings, leading to fierce open and clandestine competition within the family.

Theodore Hawthorne knew not to put all eggs in one basket. Besides group affairs, he privately established two companies, which also did quite well, even getting listed last year, with a total market cap close to a hundred billion. This was also Theodore Hawthorne’s confidence.

But today, both companies ran into trouble, either being canceled or having confirmed collaborations abruptly fail, and the stock was nearing the close, dropping sharply; in just two hours, Theodore Hawthorne’s fortune evaporated by five billion!

This could not be a coincidence, someone must be orchestrating this behind the scenes to deliberately target their Hawthorne Family!

Theodore Hawthorne forcefully extinguished his cigar in the ashtray, his gaze sharp and grim.

In one day, there are only a few within Borcia who have the capability to achieve this...

A few assistants under Theodore Hawthorne were gathered in a corner, drenched in sweat, busy monitoring the stock market and all market changes.

"President Hawthorne... the news of Old Master Crawford withdrawing investment has already spread." An assistant said nervously, "Our company’s stock price has directly hit the limit down. If this continues, before the market closes, the losses might exceed ten billion..."

Another assistant took a call and also reported nervously: "President Hawthorne, several negotiation partners have sent messages saying they want to reconsider..."

Theodore Hawthorne had just stood up, almost falling again.

"Dad!" Vincent Hawthorne hurried to support him.

Fortunately, at this time, Vincent Hawthorne had traced around and got some info.

Rhys Lucas called.

"Vincent. Uncle Hawthorne’s company is being targeted by an overseas capital, which should not be unfamiliar to you." His tone revealed some apprehension, inhaling before speaking, "It’s King."

"..."

Vincent Hawthorne’s face slightly changed.

The notorious name of ’King’ Capital, no, accurately speaking its notoriety, is renowned globally, not just in Borcia.

Five years ago, it suddenly emerged, arrogant and fearless, quickly sweeping through the international primary financial market like a malignant tornado, forcing the entire financial circle to reshuffle!

Yet, no one has been able to uncover the identity of its founding mind behind the scenes.

Two years ago, Vincent attempted to make headway in overseas markets, only to find every project met with obstacles. After investigating, he discovered it was targeted by ’King’.

Initially, Vincent wanted to hard resist, but later realized, this capital was so massive it could influence the entire international market, clashing meant certain demise.

In the end, Vincent reluctantly returned domestically.

Unexpectedly, two years later, ’King’ extended its grip to Aris... back then when he ventured into overseas markets, it could be considered as encroaching on their territory, but what is the situation now?

Chasing down the Hawthorne Family?

"Rhys, do you have any way to contact someone from King?"

Rhys Lucas replied helplessly, "No way; their company headquarters in Country M are remote operation..."

"President Hawthorne, Junior President Hawthorne!"

Several assistants from the corner called out in panic.

Vincent Hawthorne and Theodore Hawthorne both looked over to see several computers simultaneously black out, then the screen turned blue, displaying a line of white characters on a black background.

[The father’s fault for not educating the child]

Theodore Hawthorne: "?"

One of the assistants, a computer expert, immediately tracked the invading hacker, finding it was an external network intrusion; soon, he tracked down the opponent’s address, more precisely, the opponent did not intend to block.

"President Hawthorne, found it!"

Vincent Hawthorne walked over to take a look, his breath paused momentarily, his always-calm eyes turbulent.

"This is ’King’ Capital’s headquarters address in Country M..."

This means that today the drop in the stock of Theodore Hawthorne’s two companies was ’King’s deliberate retaliation!

Theodore Hawthorne stared hard at the six glaring words ’The father’s fault for not educating the child’ on the screen.

He only had two children in total, Vincent Hawthorne, who carried himself with discretion and was his proud son; he would never offend any capital that could be leveraged.

Then it must be...

"It hurts so much!" Yvonne Hawthorne’s petulant voice suddenly interjected.

She had just returned from the hospital after getting her tooth fixed, half of her face still swollen, applying an ice pack on it. Mother Hawthorne beside her looked full of sympathy.

Yvonne Hawthorne entered without noticing the tense atmosphere, looked up to see Vincent Hawthorne had arrived, hurriedly pounced over.

"Brother, why didn’t you bring Tanya Sinclair over to apologize to me!" She looked around, visibly disappointed not to see Tanya Sinclair, "Tomorrow you should divorce that bitch... no, before divorcing, make her come over and apologize! I want to slap her ten... no, twenty times!"

Yvonne Hawthorne spoke with gritted teeth; her parents wouldn’t lay a finger on her, yet that bumpkin Tanya Sinclair dared to hit her face! She wished she could tear her apart to vent!

Vincent Hawthorne frowned, having no mind to deal with her right now, "Alright, let’s talk about this later."

Yvonne Hawthorne assumed Vincent Hawthorne was trying to protect Tanya Sinclair.

She clenched her fist in hatred.

As she thought, her brother remained soft-hearted towards Tanya Sinclair, even with two children, he would surely show mercy towards Tanya Sinclair! He would surely gloss over the fact that she had been hit!

Yvonne Hawthorne was full of resentment!

In the car back, she had heard from Mother Hawthorne about the issues with Father Hawthorne’s company; seeing Father Hawthorne’s dark expression and the room full of assistants, her mind turned, immediately forming a plan.

Just then, Theodore Hawthorne spoke grimly: "Yvonne, I have a question to ask you!"

Eagerly, Yvonne Hawthorne replied, "Dad, I have something to tell you!"

A trace of vicious cunning flashed in her eyes.

Theodore Hawthorne was most concerned about the company; if he knew the losses were related to Tanya Sinclair, that bitch would surely suffer terribly!

Theodore Hawthorne assumed Yvonne Hawthorne wanted to confess, inhaling deeply, he sat back on the sofa, waiting for Yvonne Hawthorne to explain the offense against ’King’.

Eagerly, Yvonne Hawthorne stepped forward to make her accusation.

"Dad, Tanya Sinclair, that shameless vixen, she found a man outside!"

Vincent Hawthorne turned green upon hearing this.

"Yvonne, stop spouting nonsense!"

"I am not spouting nonsense! I saw it with my own eyes!" Earlier, Yvonne Hawthorne hadn’t mentioned it over the phone for fear Vincent Hawthorne wouldn’t believe, but with the company’s significant losses, Father Hawthorne needed a scapegoat, so she decisively pushed Tanya Sinclair to take the blame!

Father Hawthorne had always pampered her; whatever she said, he would believe.

"Dad, I’ve found out, my collaboration with AU International was ruined by the wild man Tanya Sinclair found! That man even said Tanya Sinclair had been wronged in our Hawthorne Family these years, and he wants justice for her!"

Yvonne Hawthorne fabricated with vivid detail.

She did not notice Theodore Hawthorne’s hand resting on his knee slowly clenching into a fist.

He stared at Yvonne Hawthorne’s blabbering with an increasingly unpleasant expression, his patience now at its limit.

"Your meaning is that Tanya Sinclair, having just awakened and blind, managed to find a wild man outside and caused my company to suffer such severe losses in one day?"