Chapter 219: Hope For Anna

Chapter 219: Chapter 219: Hope For Anna

The heavy double doors of the Grand Pavilion had barely begun to swing shut behind Jake, Aliya, and Catharine when Arthur Livingston lost whatever sanity he had left.

"Jake! Wait!" Arthur shouted, his voice cracking into a desperate screech.

He didn’t care that he was stepping over broken glass. He didn’t care that his pants cuff was soaked in expensive scotch. Arthur shoved his way past a line of frozen corporate executives, practically sprinting down the center aisle to intercept Jake before he reached the foyer.

Elias stepped sideways, his massive frame instantly blocking the aisle like an iron wall. Arthur stopped dead in his tracks, panting heavily, his eyes wild and bloodshot as he stared over Elias’s shoulder at Jake.

Jake paused. He didn’t turn around immediately, taking his time to adjust his cufflink before slowly pivoting. His expression was completely blank—no anger, no smugness, just a flat, icy void.

"Jake, please—look at me," Arthur wheezed, holding his hands out in a frantic pleading gesture. "We can fix this! Name your price. You want our port expansion equity? Take it. You want fifty percent of the state logistics contract? It’s yours! I’ll sign the transfer documents tonight. Just pull the files back. Don’t send that drive to the press!"

Subtle gasps rippled through the remaining guests. The chairman of the Livingston Group was openly begging, throwing away hundreds of millions in corporate assets in front of cabinet ministers and top-tier CEOs just to buy silence.

Down in the alumni row, Mark leaned over to Daniel, his eyes wide as he watched the spectacle. "Is Arthur out of his mind? He’s offering up the entire company’s crown jewel on the floor of a ruined wedding."

"He’s terrified," Daniel muttered back, watching Jake closely. "He knows if that thumb drive hits the media, those contracts aren’t just gone—the SEC and the federal prosecutors will be knocking on their front door by midnight."

Jake stared at Arthur, his gaze shifting slightly to where Alex was still sitting on the altar steps, looking like a hollow shell of a man.

"A concession, Arthur?" Jake asked softly, his voice cutting through the quiet hall. "You think this is a board meeting? You think you can put a price tag on what your son did to my sister?"

"Jake, he made a mistake! He was under pressure—" Arthur stammered, stepping forward, his voice cracking as he tried to wave off the crime. "Think of the pressure he was under—"

"WHAT PRESSURE?!"

The roar erupted from Jake’s chest with sudden, raw thunder, shaking the high ceilings of the hall and causing several women in the front row to jump in fear. For a single, terrifying second, Jake lost his cool, his fists clenching so hard the veins bulged against his wrists, his eyes flashing with a violent, unrestrained rage that made even Arthur stumble backward into Elias.

The room held its collective breath.

Jake froze, forcing a harsh, slow breath through his nose. Slowly, deliberately, he rolled his shoulders, loosening his fists and re-stitching his mask of absolute composure until the sharp, dangerous storm in his eyes subsided back into a flat, deadly calm.

"He made a choice," Jake corrected coldly, stepping closer until he was looking directly down into Arthur’s pale, sweating face. "And it’s time Alex learns that choices have consequences. You built a monster by buying his way out of every disaster he created. It ends tonight. Keep your contracts. Keep your equity. You’re going to need every penny for the legal defense."

Arthur’s mouth opened, but no sound came out. The absolute finality in Jake’s voice crushed the last bit of leverage he thought he had.

Before Arthur could utter another word, Alex scrambled up from the altar steps. His tie was crooked, his hair ruined, and his eyes bloodshot as he pointed a trembling finger toward Jake’s back.

"It doesn’t matter what Jake has!" Alex screamed, his voice echoing off the high-arched ceiling. "Father, tell them! Tell the Brodicks who gave us those logistics contracts! It wasn’t through standard bidding! It was Derrick Roys!"

The entire Grand Hall seemed to freeze solid.

The name *Derrick Roys* hit the room like a bomb.

Derrick Roys wasn’t just a powerful corporate figure; he was the heir apparent and next patriarch of the Roys family—the absolute apex power in the entire country. The Roys family controlled deep political networks and state infrastructure, operating at a level where standard regulations simply didn’t apply. If Derrick Roys had personally handed out those contracts, he did so without fear of legal retribution or public pushback. Nobody in their right mind would dare use Derrick Roys’ name to tell a lie, because doing so meant absolute destruction for their entire bloodline.

Arthur Livingston froze, turning his head slowly toward his son in genuine shock. He knew Alex had managed to secure the logistics allocation through the Roys family, but Alex had never specified *who* inside the family had handed it over. Hearing that it was Derrick Roys himself left even Arthur stunned.

In the front rows, the atmosphere shifted instantly. Several cabinet ministers who had been subtly reaching for their coats slowly pulled their hands back. Company directors and bank CEOs exchanged sharp, wide-eyed glances.

"Did he just say Derrick Roys?" a banking chairman whispered to the director beside him, his tone instantly losing its earlier condescension. "If Derrick is behind this, the Livingstons aren’t going down. The Roys family won’t let their chosen project collapse over a private scandal."

"Exactly," the director replied under his breath, adjusting his posture. "We can’t leave yet. If Derrick finds out who walked out on the Livingstons tonight, it’ll look like we’re taking sides against the Roys family."

Mr. Brodick, who had been pulling a furious Anna toward the side exit, stopped dead in his tracks. His jaw tightened as he slowly turned back toward the altar, his sharp eyes burning into Alex.

"Derrick Roys?" Mr. Brodick asked, his voice dropping into a low, heavy register. "Alex... are you telling me Derrick Roys personally cleared your company for those state allocations?"

"Yes!" Alex shouted, grabbing onto the shift in the room like a lifeline. He wiped sweat from his forehead, looking frantic but victorious as he looked at Anna and her father. "Derrick personally signed off on it! The Livingston Group isn’t going under, Mr. Brodick! The news media won’t dare touch a story that involves a project backed by Derrick Roys! If you walk away now, you’re throwing away a direct bridge to the next head of the Roys family!"

Beside her father, Anna’s steps faltered completely. Her eyes darted from Alex to her parents. Her mother’s harsh expression softened into pure calculation, while Mr. Brodick remained motionless, weighing the terrifying weight of the Roys family’s influence against the scandal Jake had just dropped.

Anna felt a surge of renewed hope rising in her chest. Her primary goal had always been to break into the highest echelon of elite society. Now that any chance of aligning with Jake Rivers was dead and buried, this connection was even more critical. If Alex was truly tied to Derrick Roys—the future patriarch of the country’s most powerful family—then marrying him was no longer just a corporate merger. It was her golden ticket to an untouchable level of status that even Jake couldn’t easily overshadow.

The Brodicks didn’t take another step toward the exit. They stayed right where they were, caught firmly in the web.

Jake, who had been listening to the desperate declarations, turned back toward Alex. He knew all about Derrick Roys’ involvement—he had tracked every single string Alex pulled to secure those allocations. But unlike everyone else in the room, Jake didn’t flinch at the name.

"You really think throwing Derrick Roys’ name around is going to save you, Alex?" Jake said, his voice flat and unbothered. "You think he gave you those contracts because he likes you? He gave them to you because you were a convenient pawn. And the moment federal investigations and medical malpractice charges hit your desk, you become a liability to his family’s name."

Alex let out a harsh, manic laugh. "You’re bluffing, Jake! Nobody touches Derrick Roys! You can leak whatever files you want, but as long as Derrick is behind us, the Livingston Group won’t fall!"

"We’ll see how much Derrick protects a useless liability," Jake replied softly.

He didn’t bother arguing further. He turned back around, gesturing for Aliya and Catharine to follow him.

"Let me know when the press conference starts, Arthur," Jake added over his shoulder as he walked toward the heavy glass doors, flanked by Elias and Kovacs.

A heavy, suffocating tension hung over the Grand Pavilion. While a handful of lower-level officials quietly slipped out the side doors to avoid getting caught in the crossfire, the vast majority of the high-society guests stayed glued to their seats. Cabinet ministers, CEOs, and corporate directors remained standing, their eyes darting nervously between Alex, Arthur, and the Brodick family, terrified of leaving too early and offending the Roys family, yet equally terrified of staying as the storm approached.

Down in the alumni section, Daniel looked around at the frozen crowd and shook his head, standing up from his chair.

"Look at them," Daniel muttered to Mark, buttoning his blazer. "They’re all paralyzed because of one name."

"Yeah, well, that’s the Roys family for you," Mark replied, rising from his seat and running a hand through his hair. "Nobody wants to be on the wrong side of that fence. But man... Jake didn’t even flinch. He walked out of here like he couldn’t care less who Alex’s backer is."

"Because Jake knows the truth," Daniel said, looking toward the main entrance where Jake’s group had just exited. "Contract or no contract, Alex is ruined. Let me get out of here before the real chaos starts."

One by one, the rest of their former university classmates began standing up, quietly excusing themselves and heading for the doors, leaving behind a hall filled with powerful executives trapped in their own greed.

Up on the stage, Alex stood tall once more, chest puffed out and shoulders back. The humiliated, ruined coward from moments ago had vanished, replaced by an arrogant smirk as he soaked in the fearful, reverent silence of the room, convinced that the name Derrick Roys had made him entirely untouchable.

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