Chapter 488
Susy had taken the fall several times, but each time, Marina was the one pulling strings behind the scenes.
Now, with the noose tightening, Susy had finally named names–she’d spelled it out, clear as day. The only thing she lacked was hard evidence.
Niamh had to admit: Marina was sharp. Or maybe it was just that her accomplices were slippery enough to keep her out of reach.
If the police couldn’t bring Marina down, then Niamh would do it herself.
CD Corporation–the company everyone thought had embezzled funds and disappeared–was hers all along. She’d had Carlisle set it up as a front, nothing but
smoke and mirrors.
This whole bidding war for the new mineral rights in Coralis? It was Niamh’s trap, baited and set for Marina from the very beginning.
Lying in her hospital bed, Niamh watched Marina step, unknowing, into the snare. The satisfaction she felt eclipsed any comfort medicine could offer.
Bringing Marina to utter ruin–crushing her with insurmountable debt–wouldn’t be easy. Marina had Jonathan behind her, after all.
So this time, Niamh planned every detail with care.
The mineral rights project was a perfect lure: it fit Marina’s line of work, made her curious, drew her in like a moth to a flame. More importantly, it required a massive
investment.
Jonathan, as it turned out, was more than willing to indulge Marina. He handed over nearly one and a half billion in liquid assets without batting an eye.
Still, Niamh wasn’t about to leave anything to chance. She had Carlisle hack into the microchip plant, forcing production to a halt. Then, as a major shareholder, she pressured Jonathan to sign/a strict financial oversight agreement. That way, The Thomas Group couldn’t bail Marina out. When the trap snapped shut, Marina would be left to sink into the abyss, with no way out.
When Jonathan opened his eyes again, the first thing he saw was Niamh’s cold, mocking smile.
For a second, he barely recognized her.
“Niamh, I actually-”
1/2
09:03
Chapter 488
“You don’t owe me anything,” she cut him off, her voice Icy.
“All those times you saved me… That was just you trying to make up for what Marina did to me, wasn’t it?”
She watched Jonathan’s eyes widen, shock and disbelief building by the second.
“At the end of the day, you weren’t helping me–you were helping Marina.”
“Niamh, how can you even think that?”
“How else am I supposed to see it?” Niamh stared him down, unblinking.
“You think just because you saved me, I’ll let Marina off the hook?”
“I’m telling you, Jonathan–this time, Marina is finished!”
With that, Niamh turned and strode out of the office without a backward glance.
Left alone, Jonathan pressed a trembling hand to his burning stomach.
The pain was excruciating.
He gripped the edge of his desk and slowly eased himself into a chair, uncertain whether it was his stomach or his heart that hurt more.
So this was what Niamh had always thought of him.
Every time he’d tried to help her, she’d seen it as nothing but penance for Marina’s
sins.
Jonathan’s face went white; his breath came short and shallow, sweat breaking out
across his brow.
“If you can read so much into things…” he whispered through gritted teeth, “why can’t you think a little deeper?”
He knew about Marina’s bid for the Coralis mining rights. CD Corporation, acting as a surveyor, didn’t have any real credibility or reputation in Coralis.
Yet, the Coralis government only accepted CD Corporation’s survey report.
If he’d heard that, he never would have let Marina go into the bidding blindly.
He could have warned her.
But he hadn’t.
He’d also heard Niamh was interested in the bid herself–and that she’d supposedly
רוח
Chapter 488
raised nearly a billion from the Burtons and the Winslows.
But when he had his people dig into it, the rumors proved true, but the money had never actually moved. In other words, Niamh never intended to raise funds from those families–she just wanted everyone to think she had.
A possibility began to crystallize in Jonathan’s mind.
