She Was the Treasure All Along novel Chapter 589

Channing stepped closer and muttered, "Lucian, Miss Hampton is already devastated from being set up. Even if you're not interested, you should at least offer some comfort. Just pretend, for God's sake."

Lucian gave him a flat look. "I was set up too, and it wasn't exactly a walk in the park. Why aren't you comforting me? Are you just naturally hardwired to betray your own blood?"

Channing was left speechless.

Jasmine sniffled, tilting her chin up as she delivered her final ultimatum. "Lucian, if you hadn't pushed me away—if you hadn't left me to face this nightmare alone—I would have begged my father to help you get your military rank back. But now? No one is going to save you. You can sit back and watch the mighty Shapiro family crumble because of you!"

Having made her point, Jasmine kicked everyone out of her room, making her stance crystal clear: the Hampton family would sever all military support for the Shapiros from this day forward.

The door slammed shut with finality.

Faced with such a massive threat, Lucian didn't even blink. Instead, he smoothly laced his fingers through Loyce's and asked, "Doesn't Morris have a piano recital tonight? Why don't we grab dinner and go listen to him play?"

Loyce nodded. "Yeah. I should probably talk to him anyway so he doesn't worry."

Lucian chuckled softly, tapping her nose. "He's not worried. He saw everything when you and I were together."

Loyce blinked, quickly realizing that her brother had respected her choice and deliberately let things play out.

Watching their effortless intimacy and completely ignored, Yorick felt a suffocating sense of humiliation.

In all his years, he had never been dismissed so casually.

"Lucian, even now, do you really still think you're the untouchable king of Metropia?" Yorick muttered under his breath, glaring at his retreating back.

Channing, who had stayed behind, caught the bitter whisper. His eyes gleamed with calculated malice. "My brother is just like that. He's so used to throwing his weight around in the military that he doesn't know how to turn it off. You'll just have to overlook it, Yorick. After all, you outrank him now."

Yorick paused, looking at him. Did he really outrank Lucian?

Channing offered an innocent shrug. "Am I wrong? Everyone's saying you landed the ten-billion-dollar contract with Stellar Trust. You single-handedly spiked the GDP of Metropia. Meanwhile, Lucian is a sinking ship. Without his military backing, he's just another run-of-the-mill businessman."

The flattery hit its mark. Yorick genuinely felt he was on equal footing now, if not higher. He let out a bitter laugh. "What does it matter? Loyce doesn't want me."

Why should he spend his life living in Lucian's shadow?

He was the one holding the steering wheel to Metropia's economy now!

He was going to prove to Loyce that Lucian was beneath him. He would make Lucian beg!

His actions moved faster than his thoughts. Yorick pulled out his phone and dialed his assistant, his voice eerily calm but dripping with authority.

"Compile a list of every single partner doing business with the Shapiro Group. Reach out to them personally on my behalf. Tell them Stellar Trust has a multitude of lucrative sub-contracts available, and I'm highly inclined to give them to my 'friends'."

He didn't have to spell it out. In the cutthroat corporate world of Metropia, everyone understood exactly what "friends" meant.

The news dropped like a boulder in a quiet lake, sending massive ripples across the ship.

Businessmen who were already on edge about Lucian's lost power and the Shapiro Group's sinking stock were suddenly offered a golden ticket via the Stellar Trust contract. Faced with such astronomical profits, practically no one could resist the temptation.