Chapter 519
When Adrian woke up in his sterile hospital room, his eyes darted frantically around until they landed on Fiona.
“Where’s Shane? Did he follow us?” he rasped, looking like a cornered animal.
Fiona poured a glass of water, gently helping him drink. “He left right after you got loaded into the ambulance p>
Adrian took a few greedy sips, feeling marginally better. “How long was I out p>
“About a day and a night p>
“And Shane hasn’t shown his face here at all during that time?” Adrian was still wildly paranoid.
“He hasn’t,” Fiona confirmed firmly.
“Doesn’t Mr. Rhodes have his eye on our pharmacy?” Adrian’s gaze sharpened as a desperate scheme formed in his mind. “Hurry, call Mr. Rhodes. Tell him we’re willing to sell the pharmacy immediately, and the price is highly negotiable. But the transaction has to be strictly in cash, and the faster, the better. Otherwise, the deal is off p>
Fiona was highly skeptical but pulled out her phone and followed his instructions.
“Adrian, will this actually work? Won’t Shane just cause more trouble?” Fiona asked, voicing her lingering fears after ending the call.
“Why wouldn’t it work? As long as we move fast enough,” he sneered. “Shane is trying to extort the pharmacy from us by weaponizing the fact that I opened it right after the bankruptcy. He wants to link the pharmacy’s startup funds to the old company’s assets and rile up the creditors. But what if the pharmacy suddenly belongs to someone else? Let’s see what excuse he uses then. We just need to tweak the paperwork slightly, backdate the transfer, and change the registered owner’s name. What moves can Shane possibly make after that p>
“But how do we explain a massive, sudden influx of funds into our personal bank accounts p>
“That’s exactly why I told Mr. Rhodes to pay in untraceable cash. It won’t touch our accounts p>
Meanwhile, Shane had spent the last two days hyper-focused on the escalating situation in the South-Eastern Corridor. He assumed Adrian was already thoroughly cornered and that delaying the pharmacy acquisition by a couple of days wouldn’t change the outcome.
He never imagined that in just forty-eight hours, his guaranteed prize would sprout wings and fly away.
When Shane returned to the Mercer residence, Adrian flat-out denied owning any pharmacy.
“Bullshit. You don’t have a pharmacy? Then who the hell owns Vantage Pharmaceuticals p>
“What Vantage Pharmaceuticals? Whoever owns it, it sure as hell isn’t me p>
“What kind of game are you playing?” Shane demanded, instantly pulling out his phone and dialing Allen.
“Look into it immediately. Who is the registered owner of Vantage Pharmaceuticals, and when did it officially open p>
Moments later, Allen called back. “I checked, Boss. The registered owner of Vantage Pharmaceuticals is a Mr. Rhodes. The LLC was incorporated two months ago, but the physical storefront only officially opened opened recently p>
5
Shane was dumbfounded.
He knew damn well this was Adrian’s doing. But since Shane had intended to swallow the business secretly, his initial investigations had been strictly off the books. There was no concrete paper trail he could use to prove Adrian’s ownership now. He had lost his leverage.
Shane glared violently at Adrian. “I underestimated you.” Then he turned on his heel and stormed out.
On the drive back, a deeply frustrated Shane dialed Mara’s number.
“What exactly did Adrian do?” he demanded the second she answered.
Mara, however, was in no mood to help. “Didn’t you promise that if I helped you take down the Mercer Group, you’d give me the majority shares and make me CEO? Look at me now! I haven’t seen a single dime from you p>
“Give you the majority shares? That was contingent on you actually seizing control of the company from the inside. Did you? First, Ethan
in
gutted seventy percent of the too
assets right from under your nose, and you were too stupid
even
notice. Then, it took a montimental
effort and millions of dollars on our
part to dismantle the rest piece by piece. You were practically useless! Besides, I’ve already paid you handsomely for the information you leaked. What more do you want p>
“I don’t want anything. I’m just done passing information for you p>
“Mara, if you don’t talk right now, I’ll expose every dirty little secret of yours to the press p>