Chapter 194 The Leak

    Tessa stood rigid, watching as Aubrey was taken away by the bodyguards. Her fury had yet to subside. She turned back toward Lucas’s bed, her hand trembling as she gently touched his pale cheek. Her eyes welled with grief.

    “Lucas, my sweet grandson, you have to hold on… Grandma won’t let anyone hurt you.”

    But no matter how tight their precautions were, the news still got out.

    Lucas was in aa, his life hanging by a thread.

    When Mason saw the headline, he shot up from his chair. Both fists clenched at his sides as he threw his head back andughed maniacally, the sound echoing wildly through the empty office.

    “Ha! Ha ha ha! Lucas, you’re finally dying! You’re finally dying!”

    There was a crazed gleam in Mason’s eyes, the kind of madness born from years of resentment and envy erupting all at once.

    He walked to the window and looked down at the city below, his lips curling into a twisted grin.

    “Everything you built with your own hands, Lucas… it’s all mine now.”

    His mind shed to the humiliation and pain he’d suffered after being crippled by Sloane. The hatred in his eyes deepened, bordering on insanity.

    “And your precious fiancée, Sloane… I’ll take her too. I’ll crush her under my heel. I’ll make her wish she were dead.”

    Mason couldn’t wait another second. He grabbed his phone and dialed his assistant, his voice sharp andmanding.

    “Send out the notice. Use the list I gave you. Fire every single person on it. No exceptions. And another thing–shut down every project Lucas started. All of them. Pull the funding immediately and redirect everything into the organ

    Chapter 194 The Leak

    regeneration program.”

    His assistant hesitated. “Mr. Hawthorne, the organ regeneration project is still in the experimental phase. The risk is extremely high. I doubt the board will approve…”

    Mason sneered, his tone dripping with contempt.

    “Approve? Who said anything about approval? The Hawthorne Group answers to me now. Anyone who dares object can get the hell out of the boardroom.”

    The assistant dared not push back. “Understood, Mr. Hawthorne. I’ll take care of it right away.”

    As soon as he hung up, Mason’s smug expression returned.

    He had waited so long for this moment. Now it had arrived.

    With Lucas gone, the Hawthorne Group would fall neatly into hisp. There would be no one left to stop him.

    Soon, chaos erupted inside thepany.

    Lucas’s trusted team was fired one by one. Every project he had painstakingly pushed forward was dismantled. The funds were rapidly rerouted to Mason’s pet project—organ regeneration—a move the board found absurd, even dangerous.

    During the next board meeting, the senior members could no longer stay silent.

    Several veteran shareholders fixed Mason with stern gazes, their voices tinged with frustration and doubt.

    “Mr. Hawthorne, the organ regeneration initiative is far too risky. There hasn’t been a single sessful trial. We believe this project is not ready for major investment.”

    Mason sat at the head of the table, staring them down with cold arrogance.

    “Not ready? And who are you to decide what’s ready? Lucas’s projects—what did

    they bring in? Pennies? Organ regeneration is the future. You dinosaurs just don’t get iit/i.”

    One of the older shareholders mmed a hand on the table and stood up in anger.

    “Mason, don’t get carried away! The Hawthorne Group doesn’t belong to you alone. We have every right to oppose your decisions!”

    Mason let out augh, eyes gleaming with menace.

    “Oppose me? You think you have the right? I call the shots now. If you’re unhappy with that, then get out. The boardroom door is right there.”