Chapter 80: The Last Battle
Robert attacked before sunrise.
The first blow arrived at 5:42, when three regulators requested emergency clarification on Alden Systems’ patent structure, disclosure timeline, and relationship with Leo’s investment funds.
The second landed six minutes later.
Every major financial desk received a briefing accusing Chloe and Leo of using private information, family influence, and a manufactured scandal to drive the listing price upward.
The third came when the market opened.
Short positions multiplied across the screen so quickly that the first price drop looked less like trading than a trapdoor opening beneath the company.
Inside Alden Systems’ London war room, advisers spoke over one another while phones lit every table.
Chloe stood at the central screen with Robert’s evidence file closed beneath one hand.
Leo entered through the side door, still wearing the suit he had worn to confront his father.
“He wants us defending three walls at once,” he said.
“Then we do not defend,” Chloe replied.
The room quieted.
Her legal director looked up from the regulatory notices. “We have to answer the complaints before the opening volatility becomes a credibility event.”
“We will answer them,” Chloe said. “But not separately, and not on his timetable.”
She tapped the folder.
Overnight, the legal team had built one verified package: Robert’s recorded admission, shell-company records, island payments, aircraft invoices, medical retainers, asset purchases, and the chronology linking Victor’s actions to Robert’s instructions.
Nothing depended on rumour. Nothing required anonymous sourcing. Nothing asked the market to trust Chloe simply because she had been wronged.
At 8:07, the package reached the financial regulator, the corporate enforcement division, and the prosecutors already handling Victor’s case.
At 8:08, Leo filed his own disclosure.
He identified his relationship to Robert, confirmed the recording, recused himself from every decision involving Hart-linked assets, and placed his voting rights under independent supervision until the inquiry concluded.
The move cost him control. It bought credibility.
Robert’s media narrative lost its easiest target before commentators could finish reading the first paragraph.
At 8:10, Chloe walked into the press room.
Cameras turned towards her in a single bright wave.
Behind her, a screen displayed a timeline with dates, documents, and transaction references clear enough for every journalist to follow.
“This morning,” Chloe said, “Alden Systems received coordinated complaints and market pressure from interests connected to Robert Hart.”
Questions erupted.
She raised one hand.
“We will not answer manipulation with speculation. We have submitted the evidence to the proper authorities, and we are publishing the verified record now.”
The timeline moved behind her.
Robert’s consultancy agreement.
The island facility payments.
The acquisition of distressed Alden assets after Edward vanished.
The recorded admission.
By the time the final document appeared, the room had stopped interrupting.
At 8:16, an emergency preservation order froze Robert’s exchange-traded holdings and restricted movement across the network of companies named in the filing.
At 8:17, two funds withdrew from the hostile acquisition coalition.
At 8:19, the largest one announced it had never authorised Robert to use its name in an offer.
The short positions began to unwind.
On the trading screen upstairs, the falling line stopped, flattened, and turned upward.
Leo watched the recovery without smiling.
“He tried to turn daylight into cover,” he said.
Chloe closed the press folder. “Daylight leaves records.”
The final question came from the back row.
“Ms Alden, are you saying Robert Hart’s campaign is over?”
Chloe looked directly into the cameras.
“I am saying it has entered the part where facts become consequences.”
Her phone vibrated before she stepped away from the lectern.
The alert was red.
Island Medical Facility: emergency cardiac event. Edward Alden. Vital signs deteriorating rapidly.
For one second, the room disappeared.
Then Chloe ran.