Chapter 78: Coordinated Attack

It was clearly a coordinated, purposeful attack.This could be the work of someone who spotted an opportunity, perhaps seeing that the accumulation had been done by a single player with limited backing, or...

I dialed a number.

"Hello?"

"Jack?" Sam answered on the other side.

"Did you see what happened to Monster Beverage?" I asked him.

"I'm aware," he replied and then I heard a female voice in the background. "Is it Jack?"

"Yes." Sam whispered.

It was Mia in the background, I realized.

"Sam, are you listening?"

"Yes."

"Can you tell me when was the last time you spoke with any of your siblings?"

"My siblings? I spoke with Dylan, like... a month ago."

"Did you mention any of your stock market plays to him?"

There was a pause on the line.

"...you think he did something? He doesn't have the financial means to go this far…"

"Alright, Sam, that's all I needed to know. I've already talked with Mark. Everything will be fine. Have fun with Mia."

"Hey! I'm not—"

I hung up on him.

I lay down on my bed and closed my eyes.

Dylan might not have the financial means himself, but he could have easily reached out to any of his older siblings.

His older sister, Evelyn Johnson, who owns WhitePath Corp. Europe or perhaps the oldest sibling, Gabriel Johnson, who holds the majority of shares in both the Tampa and Miami branches of Johnson Trading and is also the owner of WhitePath Corp. USA.

Both of them could easily plan a manipulation of this scale...

I stood up and went to my desk, opening my laptop to check the SEC filings for WhitePath Corp. Europe.

There was no recent filling of sales or purchases in the last month so I focused on their portfolio and pulled up the charts for their stocks.

I scanned through the charts and I soon noticed something unnatural.

Several stocks they held had been on a downtrend for the past month, even though the rest of the sector had been climbing.

Clearly, something was off.

'If they've been selling off stocks at this pace, they must be swimming in cash.' I thought.

With that kind of money, manipulating a smaller stock like Monster Beverage would be a piece of cake.

I didn't think I needed to search further, but I decided to check Gabriel's stocks anyway.

There were some suspicious movements, but nothing clear enough to prove a selloff.

My conclusion was that Evelyn Johnson was most likely in cahoots with Dylan Johnson to take down their own little brother.

But what can I do about it?

I could try to fight them with my own capital, but the odds were against me and the potential future gains from Axon and CalMaine were too high to abandon now...

Monster Beverage would likely recover in time; the pressure from improved earnings would eventually become too much even for WhitePath's manipulation to hold up.

However, until then, the losses could be significant, and my reputation in the company will suffer.

My name will get marred...

'What to do, what to do...' I was starting to get frustrated.

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...

On Tuesday morning, I was on campus, parked my car right next to the business faculty and walked through the green quad zone, dotted with benches and shaded by trees.

I had extra classes, and they were taking place here instead of the usual finance building.

And who would know it? I bumped into Hana, sitting at a bench with her sister, Luna Park.

The last time I saw Hana's sister was that one instance at the beginning of the year...

Luna was wearing a purple pullover sweater that was buttoned down and came down to her flat belly. The sweater matched her hair color and was paired with cut-off, low waist denim shorts that were quite tight. Above the shorts, I could see the top band of her purple panties.

'She isn't modest at all.' I thought.

Hana, on the other hand, wore a black baggy blouse and a plaid dark skirt that ended just an inch above her knees.

"Jack!" Hana called out to me before I could even approach them.

"Hey Hana, Luna." I nodded.

"What are you doing here?" Hana asked.

"I've got extra classes at your faculty." I told Hana directly.

Then I shot a glance at Luna. "By the way, I see Hana all the time, but I haven't seen you around since that one time at the beginning of the year. Did you drop out or what?"

Luna looked at me with her almond-shaped, deep brown eyes, a bit sassy. "And why do you care?" she said, her eyes crinkling at the corners, like she was challanging me.

"She's usually at work." Hana said.

"You're working?" I asked, surprised.

Luna gave a slight, resigned smile, as if Hana had spoiled the fun. "Yeah. I've got this special course at the university... I'm mostly sticking with it because ABC News wants me to."

"Ah, right..." I muttered, "You were majoring in journalism..."

Luna's gaze suddenly shot to her right. "Oh, sorry, my boyfriend just showed up. I've got to go!" she said cheerfully before hurrying off, swaying her trim waist and shapely butt, making sure everyone turned their heads to look at her.

A classy black Jaguar XJR was parked right at the edge of the green square.

A good-looking guy in his early 20s was standing next to it with a smile. He was wearing Versace clothes, I think, and had a silver watch on his wrist.

Luna gave him a hug, then snuck into the car.

"Who's that guy?" I asked Hana, watching as Luna and her boyfriend drove off.

"Don't ask me," Hana said with a shrug. "She's cycled through, like, four boyfriends this year. She swaps them out like sneakers."

'A golddigger,' I thought. "Some women are like that." I commented.

"Some women are like that?! She's my sister! Dad's totally given up on her."

"Yhym..." I said blankly, as an ingenious idea was brewing in my mind.

I might need to buy a few things...

"Hana, want to go out for dinner some time?"

"Dinner?!" Hana looked genuinely surprised. "Where is that coming from?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "Why not... Don't wanna?"

Her exotic eyes narrowed with suspicion. "Fine... I suppose."

"What do you think about tomorrow evening?"

"Sure," She said softly. "I'm down for that."

...

A few hours later, I was just south of the University of Florida, stepping out of my blue Subaru Impreza.

I was standing in front of the property I'd been eyeing—a classic family home, just a stone's throw from the campus.

It looked welcoming from the outside, with white columns and a covered front porch. The yard was well-kept, with pretty little bushes all over it. The driveway to the garage was made up of a mix of red slabs.

Yesterday, I had arranged with the owner to check out the house.