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Chapter 563
Chapter 563:
“You have exactly ten seconds to tell me she is on a plane back to New York.” Cole’s voice came through the line thick with barely contained, unhinged rage. “If she isn’t, Star Network is just the beginning. I will burn the Love Group to the ground p>
Crawford said nothing for a moment. Then he let out a slow, deeply contemptuous laugh.
“Cole,” he said, his voice smooth and unhurried, “you genuinely believe you still own her? You’re behaving like a child whose broken toy someone else picked up off the floor. Throwing ten billion dollars at a trading screen won’t bring her back to you p>
The breathing on the other end of the line grew heavier and more violent.
“Did you touch her?” Cole’s voice dropped to something low and grinding, the words coming through clenched teeth. “If you put one finger on her, I will kill you p>
у𝗼𝘶r 𝘯𝗲𝘹t 𝘧𝘢𝘃o𝗋𝗶te 𝗿е𝘢𝖽 𝘪𝘴 on 𝗴a𝗅ո𝗼𝘷𝗲𝘭𝘀.с𝘰𝗆
Crawford glanced back at the locked door, knowing June was sitting in the sun just a few yards away, entirely unaware of any of this.
He lowered his voice deliberately, letting it take on a tone of quiet, intimate exhaustion.
“June is a very passionate woman, Cole,” Crawford said, driving the lie in with surgical precision. “We had a very pleasant night together here in California. As for the details — why on earth would I share them with a failed, soon-to-be ex-husband p>
The silence on the line lasted less than two seconds.
Then a tremendous crash came through the speaker — the sound of something large and heavy being destroyed — followed by Cole’s voice, stripped of every last layer of control.
“You are a dead man p>
The line went dead.
Crawford lowered the phone and stood quietly for a moment, his expression shifting from cold amusement to something harder and more serious. He had successfully driven Cole to the edge of total irrationality. But he had also, in doing so, declared open war. The Compton Group’s capital reserves were enormous. If Crawford stayed in California, his empire would absorb real, lasting damage. He needed to be in New York to command the defense in person.
He straightened his cuffs, drew a measured breath, and unlocked the door.
He walked back out into the warm morning light. June looked up from her coffee, catching the faint tension along his jaw.
“Is everything all right?” she asked.
Crawford produced a perfectly calibrated sigh of professional frustration. “The Silicon Valley deal just hit a serious wall. A competitor is making a hostile move on the target company. I need to fly back to New York immediately to stabilize the board p>
June, with no awareness whatsoever that she was the sole cause of a multi-billion-dollar war currently unfolding on Wall Street, nodded with quiet understanding.
“Business comes first,” she said. “Let me drive you to the airport p>
To maintain the integrity of his carefully constructed lie, Crawford didn’t summon his private helicopter to the villa. Instead, he let June drive the rented SUV up the scenic Highway 1 toward San Francisco International Airport.