Chapter 83: Invasion

It was already around 9 p.m., but I knew I wouldn't find the willpower to take care of the moving process tomorrow.I drove to my garage, swapped out my Ferrari for my Ford F-150 pickup truck, and drove to the dorm, moving some of my things from there into the pickup and driving them to my new house.

Fortunately, as taught by my mother, I was a very frugal man, with little to no belongings, so I only needed to make one round trip.

After unloading everything at the new house and leaving it in the dining room, I walked into the main bedroom and collapsed onto the large white bed with its soft, cuddly sheets.

It was incredibly comfortable.

...

The next morning, I drove the Ford F-150 onto the campus for my classes and lectures.

In the afternoon, the last lecture was philosophy, which had replaced political science for the semester.

Our lecturer was discussing Stoicism in Modern Society; talking about how people find inner peace by maximizing the things they can control and minimizing the things they can't.

The hall was quiet as he started explaining how this philosophy could be applied to organizations and companies.

"The United States invades Iraq!" Suddenly, someone from the back of the hall yelled out.

Everyone turned to look at Matt Roney, who was seated at the back. Over the past few months, Matt has visibly gained weight, becoming noticeably rounder.

'Of course it would be him—he's probably glued to the news feed 24/7. His forex positions are likely getting crushed right now.' I thought.

While the invasion had seemed likely for some time, it happened a bit earlier in the month compared to what I remembered.

The professor, clearly interested, looked over at Matt. "What does the news say?"

The philosophy lectures were a bit more casual than the rest of the classes, so Matt wouldn't get reprimanded for speaking out like that.

Matt looked a bit flustered but eager to share. "It's saying that the United States has officially invaded Iraq and China supports them in that decision. Troops are moving in, and it seems like it will be an all-out invasion without holding back."

'What? China supports them?'

'Are we starting to cooperate with China in military actions?'

'This must be the reason for the earlier go-ahead...' I came to a conclusion.

I pulled out my notebook and opened it up. I needed to check something. Flipping to my stock tracker, I saw that Monster Beverage had dropped another 4% today. The supporters were clearly fleeing.

Evelyn Johnson and WhitePath Europe didn't even need to put more pressure on the stock; the investors would make sure that the stock committed suicide.

But the thing that I really wanted to check were the positions that Johnson Trading Orlando has created in the military sector.

Out of the around dozen companies, one had announced a military contract with the US just 15 minutes ago. They were most likely legally bound to not let the news out before the military action in Iraq was taken.

However... the thing that I was dreading the most had happened.

The stock price surged 19% in under a minute before being suppressed, and it was now slowly sliding down.

For god's sake! They just announced a contract that would quadruple the company's total revenue! And what was it doing?

It was getting stiffled!

Strangled!

I was 100% sure that the same thing would happen to the other stocks if they were to announce a new contract with the government.

This was more of WhitePath's and Evelyn's tactics.

But this situation was different from that of Monster Beverage.

These companies were not running efficiently, and even if their stock had a short-term rise, it would start to go down after a year or two.

If Sam's siblings manage to suppress the stock prices now, we might never recover from this...

We have put 170 million dollars into those stocks...

That's why I needed to act quickly.

My plan was to manipulate Luna Park so that she would become a potential future asset, but if I can't get her to follow my plan soon, I may need to switch to Plan B.

Sam seemed to be also checking the stock prices; I mean, Mia was helping him to check the stock prices.

After the lecture, Sam approached me, looking serious. "Emmm—Jack. I think we need to talk."

"Yes," I replied. "You can give me a ride to my garage, and we can talk on the way."

We walked out together and headed to Sam's limousine. Ricky, the chauffeur and foremost Sam's friend, was already waiting by the car. He greeted us with a nod.

There was also another man standing nearby—a large man.

He was Sam's recent hire. Sam had two bodyguards and a chauffeur at this point. With one of his bodyguards always observing from afar.

As the limousine rolled off the curb, I turned to Sam.

"Sam," I began, "there is no doubt that someone is targeting the stocks we have invested in, and... I'm not going to beat around the bush, Sam; I've checked, and it looks like your sister has been selling off stocks at WhitePath Europe. I'm positive that they are the ones suppressing the stocks..." Searᴄh the novёlF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Sam gulped down. "I... I didn't realize it would end like this... I've been naive."

I sighed. "Your family is very competitive, Sam. You should know better than to give away your plans so easily."

After he took it in, his expression became more resolute. "I have a plan. You don't need to do anything right now. I'll work with Mark to report this, and the SEC can start an investigation. After all, their activity is illegal."

I sighed. "Sam... with good lawyers, they could make a case to justify shorting those stocks, and even if the SEC investigation is successful, it'll take at least a year for them to face the repercussions. Plus, it is likely that the losses they will face will be less than the benefits they might gain from doing this."

Sam looked concerned. "Then what... Should I let them bring my company down? They could easily erase me within a few months..."

"No. Not if we go public with this. Your family is wealthy, people are clearly invested in your lives; you're like celebrities. 'The Johnson family is trying to destroy one of their own using illegal means'. A scandal like this would bring a lot of attention."

"You want to tip off news outlets?"

"Not exactly in the way you might think," I replied. "We need to use this situation to our advantage. I've already identified a target that we can use."

Sam went quiet, deep in thought. "Use it to the best of our ability... use the opportunity," he muttered.

Finally, he looked at me. "Jack, are you absolutely sure this plan will work?"

"If my current idea doesn't work, I'll find another way to deal with it."

Sam nodded and then spoke to the chauffeur. "Ricky! After we drop Jack off at his garage, we're heading to Miami... I need to talk with father."

After they dropped me off at my garage, I drove my Ferrari back to my new house and parked it inside, then I walked over to campus, got into my pickup truck, and went grocery shopping.

Afterward, I met up with Charlotte for dinner.

Once we finished, I drove back to my house, but when I arrived, I noticed that I wasn't alone.

A black limousine was parked right across the street.

It was Doyle Johnson's limousine.