Chapter 36 CHAPTER 36
Deborah remained seated, both hands clutching her head so tightly it was as if she could physically hold herself together through the shock.
“What are we going to do now?” she muttered, her voice trembling with panic. “Something is behind this. Something must be the cause of all this. Who did you offend? Did you say something to someone? What exactly is going on here?”
But no one answered.
No one seemed to have an answer.
The room was thick with fear, confusion, and the kind of silence that only follows a disaster no one saw coming.
Even Mr. Bushman, who usually tried to appear composed, was no better. He paced restlessly back and forth, his frustration spilling out with every step.
“This would have changed our lives,” he said bitterly. “Not just our lives our status, our rank, the way people see us, the place this family holds. This would have changed everything.”
He stopped for a moment, his face tightening.
“But now look at us. We’re in complete disarray. We don’t even know what to do next. And it’s obvious Mr. Oliver isn’t willing to listen to anything anyone says.”
His voice grew harsher.
“Tell me who among us even has the kind of connection needed to speak to Mr. Oliver? Who?”
He looked around the room as though expecting an answer, but found none.
“Nobody,” he said at last. “Absolutely nobody. So what exactly are we supposed to do now?”
That was when Jessica, who had been silent until then, slowly lifted her head and said, “Mom… don’t you remember what that bastard said at the bank?”
At that moment, the entire room fell still.
The panic, the pacing, the muttering everything seemed to pause at once as all eyes turned toward Jessica.
Mr. Bushman was the first to react.
His face darkened, and in a sharp, impatient voice, he snapped, “Who the hell is that? Who the hell is the bastard, and what exactly are you talking about?”
Before Jessica could answer, Deborah suddenly lowered her hands from her face, as though something had just struck her with terrifying clarity.
She began nodding quickly.
“Oh,” she said, her voice rising with realization, “I almost forgot. I completely forgot.”
Her eyes widened.
“Now it makes sense. It is so clear to me now. That good-for-nothing Megan must have had one or two things to do with this.”
Mr. Bushman turned immediately to look at his wife, then at Jessica, his confusion hardening into suspicion.
“Megan?” he repeated. “How? How are you both saying that?”
Deborah did not hesitate.
“We saw her at the bank today,” she said. “We saw her with our own eyes. And do you know what she said? Even before we had any idea what was going on, she had already said that we were going to cry today. She said we would definitely end up feeling sorry for ourselves.”
Her expression twisted with anger as the memory returned more vividly.
“She was speaking with so much confidence as if she already knew something, as if she had done something herself. And now it is obvious. Completely obvious. She either knew what was going to happen, or she was directly involved in this.”
At that moment, Vincent slowly lifted his head.
There was something chilling in his expression now something dark, cold, and dangerous.
“Megan had a hand in this?” he said, his voice low and sharp. “Where did you see her? Which bank?”
Jessica answered immediately.
“Diamond Bank,” she said. “It was at Diamond Bank that we saw her.”
She swallowed, then continued more carefully, trying to piece everything together.
“We had gone there today because of the business proposal we were supposed to present our investment plans. We had already been given assurances that everything was likely to go through, so all we needed to do was submit the final documents.”
Her face tightened with frustration.
“And when we were leaving, we saw Megan there.”
Then her tone shifted, becoming more intense.
“And you know the strangest part? The director of Diamond Bank, Mr. Liam, had already canceled everything that had to do with us.”
She shook her head, still unable to fully believe it.
“The way he was speaking to Megan…” she said. “It was as if she was the one in power and he was beneath her. He was so polite, so careful, almost like he was standing before someone far above him.”
Jessica’s eyes narrowed.
“We kept trying to tell him who she was. We told him over and over that Megan was an ex-convict , but he did not listen to a single word we said.”
Her voice lowered.
“And that is not even all. I feel it—no, I’m sure of it. She has a hand in this.”
The moment she finished speaking, Vincent rose to his feet so abruptly that the chair scraped back with force.
Then, with a sudden burst of fury, he slammed both hands onto the table in front of him.
The glass of Hennessy resting there toppled instantly, crashing to the floor and shattering into pieces.
The sharp sound rang through the room, vincent stared ahead, jaw tight, his anger now burning with certainty.
“This makes sense,” he said. “It all makes sense now.”