She Left She Thrived She’s Worth Billions novel Chapter 945

The Golden Aurum Pavilion right next door was the chosen venue for the celebratory banquet.

While Melanie, Preston, Elara, and Alistair all headed to Calyon to attend the traditional-themed event.

Back in Averin, at Valiant Manufacturing, Gavin Lockridge was forcefully thrown out of the building for the seventh time.

"I just want to see your boss for one minute! Just one minute!"

But no matter how hoarse Gavin's throat became from screaming, no one paid him a single shred of attention.

Thoroughly defeated, he slumped onto the ground right in front of the factory doors, completely uncaring that the dirt was ruining his insanely expensive designer suit.

Gavin had never even met Barney Miller, the head of Valiant Manufacturing.

How could he possibly have conspired with the man to produce counterfeit drugs and frame the Royce Group?

But if he hadn't done it, someone else undeniably had.

Because the counterfeiting operation was a very real, very indisputable fact.

The only suspect Gavin could possibly think of—

Was Dominic Hale.

The contract Barney had presented clearly bore the official seal of the Lockridge Group. The only person with both the access to that seal and the sheer audacity to pull off something this massive behind closed doors was Dominic. There was no one else.

Yet, Gavin couldn't bring himself to confront Dominic.

After all, he and Dominic were as close as brothers.

Taking a massive step back, whether they were brothers or not, Dominic was never going to admit to something like that straight to his face.

A heavy, weary sigh escaped Gavin's lips.

The one thing he absolutely could not wrap his head around was why Barney had pointed the finger directly at him.

"Could it be..."

Gavin's eyes snapped wide open.

Had Dominic instructed the factory boss from the very beginning to throw all the blame onto him if everything went south?

A sudden, terrifying chill raced down Gavin's spine.

Gavin fully admitted that he was a useless, lazy playboy who barely cared about his responsibilities.

Since his grandfather was slowly recovering under medical supervision, he stopped worrying so much and simply went back to drinking and partying.

But he never could have anticipated what awaited him on the day his grandfather was finally discharged.

Dominic had already beaten him there, standing dutifully by the old man's side.

Holden had looked at him and announced that, in sheer gratitude for Dominic saving his life, he had decided to formally adopt the man as his own grandson.

The news had utterly shocked Gavin.

But he had accepted it fairly quickly, genuinely congratulating Dominic and feeling incredibly blessed that they were finally, officially family. At least, that was how he felt in the beginning.

Yet...

Ever since Dominic became a sanctioned member of the Lockridge family, Gavin felt like the man had become his personal yardstick for failure.

No matter how big or small the issue, Holden constantly compared the two of them, picking apart Gavin's endless flaws before showering Dominic in heavy praise.

More importantly, as Dominic settled into the Lockridge family, his hands dug deeper and deeper into their corporate operations.