Too Late to Hold Me Back novel Chapter 483

Adrian's teeth ground together audibly. "Fine. I'll sign."

He bitterly wished Lacey had just succumbed to a sudden illness and died. That would have ended everything cleanly without costing him such a massive fortune. Because of this new deal, Mara had to cough up the twenty percent of shares Lacey had previously held, and Adrian had to surrender another ten percent of his own equity. It felt like a knife twisting in his gut, a suffocating weight pressing down on his chest.

Still, at least their little family of three avoided serious jail time, finally managing to walk out of the police station.

That afternoon, Ethan called Mira. "Mira, Lacey's divorce is finalized, and she got the shares. What do you think? Should we report Mara for buying the drugs?"

"No need. Someone else will handle them soon enough," Mira replied. Mara was merely the end buyer for a small quantity; it wouldn't constitute a major felony. Putting her behind bars now might actually help her dodge the incoming storm. "I'm leaving the drug issue for Roxanne Porter. She's the mastermind here, and it's not the right time to tip our hand."

Mira was about to hang up when Ethan quickly added, "Julian and the others are coming over tonight for a get-together. Do you want to—"

"I'm not going. If you want to protect Lacey's assets, sell her shares immediately. Don't haggle for a high price, and don't care who the buyer is. Just liquidate them as fast as possible."

The Mercer Group was already crumbling, and Shane Porter would be making his final move soon. Once he did, the Mercer stocks would absolutely plummet, crashing straight to the bottom.

Noticing Ethan ending the call, Lacey looked over. "Is Mira coming?"

"No."

"It's all my fault for being so foolish. She has every right to hate me."

"Hate you? She doesn't hate you. To her, you're practically a stranger on the street."

"What else could it be? I honestly don't get it. With your level of intelligence, how did you manage to give birth to a genius like Mira? Honestly, maybe Mara really is your biological daughter—equally stupid and just as vicious. But Mira definitely isn't Adrian and Fiona's kid; they're far too evil for that. Maybe Mira's real parents are someone else entirely. Maybe she really was swapped at birth."

Lacey sat on the sofa, staring at her eldest son as he spun wild theories.

"What about you? Are you smart or dumb?"

"I'm just as dumb as you. Otherwise, how could I have failed to see through her pathetic tricks and actually believed Mara was sweet and innocent?"

Lacey turned her head away, a lump in her throat. "I used to be very smart when I was young. I was just blinded by your father's lies."