Colin was lying in bed with two attractive blonde women. All three of them were naked.
Colin adored beautiful women, and he had always been partial to blondes. He had found these two at a local beauty pageant and had been with them for a month.
Noah's eyes were bulging, and his mouth was hanging open as he stared at the women.
"Hey, babes," Colin said. "Wait here and don't move. I need to speak with my friend, okay? I'll be back soon." He pulled on a pair of boxer shorts, got out of bed, and pulled the covers up over the woman.
"Noah, I assume you have some good news for me?" Colin asked, walking toward him.
The previous day, Nathan Ambrose had told Colin that he would be attacking the Drake family, so Colin guessed that was why Noah was here.
"You know I do," Noah said with a smile. "I assume you're behind the chaos with the Fidelity Group."
"How is the Drake family?" Colin asked.
"This morning, the company received numerous phone calls, each regarding an unprecedented crisis," Noah reported. "Reginald has sent everyone back to their respective companies to deal with the problems. He was just sitting there, completely miserable, and unable to understand what's happening. It was a glorious sight!"
"How much do you think the Drake family lost today?" Colin asked.
"They've already incurred losses of nearly two billion dollars," Noah said, almost cackling with glee. "Contracts are still being ripped up, and people are demanding refunds, so they'll lose even more money. This is the biggest crisis in the Drake family's history. If they can't find a way out, they'll end up bankrupt!"
"Really?" Colin was both shocked and pleased. Nathan Ambrose was something. In just one morning, he had irreparably damaged the Drake family.
Now the Pattersons were one step closer to taking over the Drakes as the most powerful family in Washington, D.C.
"Colin, whoever you have backing you is seriously connected," Noah said, his tone awed. "I can't think of any family in the country who could do all that so quickly!" He knew Colin couldn't have achieved this on his own. There must be someone more powerful helping him. "What's next? Are you going to keep up the pressure on the Drake family?"
"Of course," Colin said. "Soon, the Pattersons will be the top family in Washington, D.C., and the Drake family will be nothing!" He looked at Noah. "Go back and keep an eye on what's happening. I believe my backer intends to launch a final attack on the Drake family soon. When I find out more, I'll let you know."
"Okay," Noah said. "I'll wait for your call." He left the villa.
**
Over the day, the problems faced by the subsidiaries of the Fidelity Group showed no signs of improvement. On the contrary, the situation grew even more serious.
Reginald talked to several companies that had broken off negotiations with the Fidelity Group. He tried to make concessions, but they wouldn't engage with him at all.
He asked them for an explanation. It just didn't make sense. Neither side would benefit unless they could find a more powerful business partner.
The companies refused to explain. They had all been warned by much more powerful companies to stop working with the Fidelity Group. They were told that they would receive compensation for losses incurred by the breach of contract, but if they continued to work with the Fidelity Group, then they would become the next target.
Faced with such heavy pressure, the companies chose to terminate their contracts.
Reginald investigated the owners of several of the companies that had threatened their business partners, but he couldn't find connections between them.
Somewhere behind these companies was an exceptionally powerful person who was controlling everything.
Reginald sat in an office, brooding over everything that had happened. He was frustrated, and he didn't know how the Drake family could survive this catastrophe.
"Dad, what's wrong?" David asked. He knew little about the business world, but he had confidence in his father. He didn't like seeing him so rattled.
"We've lost a lot of money," Reginald said, his voice bleak. "All our projects have ground to a halt, and there is little hope of improvement in the near future. Employees will start to resign once word gets out, and that will make things even more difficult."
"Dad, the other companies broke their contracts, not us," David said. "They need to pay us compensation."
"It doesn't matter," Reginald said, sighing. "It would take some time before we saw any of that money, and I'm not sure we have that long."
"Dad, no," David protested. "The Fidelity Group cannot fall. You're one of the top businessmen in Washington, D.C., so I know you'll get through this."
Reginald had lost his confidence, so David tried to encourage him. "Our family has billions of dollars. We've only lost two billion, so let's use some of our money to deal with this."
Reginald had never told David how much money the family had, but David had seen online articles about them, and he knew his family's assets were at least thirty billion dollars. So, why couldn't they use some of that to fix this crisis?
Reginald shook his head and smiled bitterly. David still had a lot to learn.
"David, although we have tens of billions of dollars in assets, most of them are fixed assets, such as houses, cars, and shares in various companies," Reginald explained. "They can't be realized immediately. Do you understand?"
David got a sinking feeling. "How much money do we need to get through this?" he asked.
"Right now, we can get our hands on half a million dollars," Reginald said. "But we need at least two and a half billion dollars to fix this."
Two and a half billion! David thought, collapsing into a chair. Even though he was used to wealth, that was a shocking amount of money.
But no matter how difficult it was, he would have to try. Otherwise, the Fidelity Group, which his father had spent decades building, would collapse.
"Dad, don't worry," he said. "We'll find a way to get the money. Whatever it takes. We have to save the Fidelity Group." He stood up and looked at his father, eager to get started.
Reginald shook his head and sighed. He knew there was no way to get that kind of money.
"Dad, trust me," David said. "I won't let the company fall. I'll go and get the money now." With that, he hurried out of the office.
David drove to see the manager of the local branch of the Horizons Bank and asked him for a loan.
The Fidelity Group's problems had already impacted the city, and the bank manager was aware of what was happening. Lending money to the Drake family now would be risky, and the manager would be in a lot of trouble.
He was far too experienced to make such a mistake.
No matter how much David begged, the bank manager stayed strong and refused to lend any money to the Drake family.
David spent more than an hour pleading with him, but to no avail.
He also called his former classmates from when he had studied abroad. They were all rich, and David hoped to borrow money from them.
But when they heard about what was happening, they all pleaded for poverty. Everyone said they wanted to help but were unable to do so.
David called more than twenty people, and only two of them were willing to help, but they could only give him half a million dollars.
It was a drop in the ocean compared to what they needed.
David threw his mobile phone to the ground.
"When we were students together, how many times did they say we'd be friends for life?" he muttered. "We promised we would always help each other when we could." He shook his head. "Liars, the lot of them!"
He was disgusted by their behaviour. David was so angry he could barely breathe.
He picked up his phone and discovered a couple of cracks on the screen. He opened up his social media page. This was his last hope. Perhaps, here, he could find some of his rich friends to help him. When he checked his notifications, he found a lot of unread messages, and many people had tagged him.
[David, what happened?]
[I heard that all the Drake businesses ran into problems at the same time, and the company is falling apart. What's going on?]
[I tried calling David, but he didn't answer.]
[David, when you get this, message me back!]
[I'm so sorry, David. We're here for you.]