Chapter 270

Chapter 270

"Go on."

Lily glanced at Andrew, took a deep breath, and slowly said,

"The Anderson Group just put out an announcement. When they were developing the scenic area before the new year, they found a mine. All the paperwork is in order now, and they have the local government's support. Once the equipment moves in, they'll start digging."

A flash of surprise crossed Olivia's face. She instinctively looked over at Andrew, waiting for an explanation.

"I've been keeping tabs on this the whole time, but my plan was to wait until all the mining equipment was on site and then take you there in person — surprise you with it. I didn't expect it to come in handy this soon."

"The samples they pulled out have already been sent for testing. The purity might not be as high as what Holden has, but it's more than enough to keep Lantine Jewelry going for now."

"As for Holden, I already know how I'm going to deal with him."

Andrew finished speaking and looked at Olivia with a sincere expression. Then, as if something had just occurred to him, he straightened up in his seat and looked her dead in the eye, saying slowly and deliberately,

"I was wondering if I'd have the honor of inviting Ms. Smith to come check out the site in person?"

Olivia was immediately drawn in by his words, and she nodded.

This news was exactly what Olivia needed right now — she couldn't have asked for better. And she knew Andrew had done all of this for her.

The Anderson Group had been holding back for so long, yet now, for the sake of Lantine Jewelry, before everything was fully in place, they had suddenly gone public with this announcement. It was essentially putting their current vulnerabilities on display for everyone to see.

Andrew caught the brief flash of emotion in Olivia's eyes and quickly raised his hand to stop her.

"This was the Anderson Group's call. Trust that they had their reasons for making it."

In no time, the news from the Anderson Group spread across the entire jewelry industry. Once word got out that Lantine Jewelry already had a backup supplier, everyone who had been eyeing Holden's stock shifted their attention to the Anderson Group.

Meanwhile, over at Holden's side, his office — once packed with visitors — was now completely empty. His reckless price hikes had pushed everyone away. Outsiders sat on the fence, and no one dared to take the deal.

The mountains of expensive raw materials piling up in Holden's warehouse had gone from a lifeline to dead weight overnight.

What made things even worse was that the banks had started to smell trouble. Given how heavily Holden was leveraged, if this stock didn't sell, he'd be at serious risk of defaulting on his loans. To protect themselves, the banks immediately began demanding repayment on loans that were already due, and Holden's other pending loan applications were now at risk of being rejected.

"Mr. Edwards, that overseas partnership we finalized last time — they just sent an email saying everything's on hold. They want to wait until our debt situation is fully resolved before moving forward..."

Holden had been counting on that payment to ease some of the pressure he was under. The last thing he expected was for them to flip the table entirely. It made his blood boil.

"Get out!"

The assistant froze for a second after being shouted at, then snapped back to reality and rushed out of the room.

The moment the door clicked shut, something shattered inside. Holden had gotten to his feet at some point and swept everything clean off his desk. Papers flew through the air before scattering all over the floor. A glass hit the ground with enough force that even the carpet couldn't save it — it shattered to pieces.

Looking at the mess around him, Holden finally felt his temper settle a little.

He slowly sat back down, sinking into his executive chair as he scrolled through the stream of notifications on his phone — bank payment reminders, partners pulling out — and the last one that popped up was the announcement that the Anderson Group's mine would officially begin operations in three days.

At that, Holden's whole body started shaking with rage. His back was already soaked in cold sweat, and his face had gone pale without him even realizing it.

It finally hit him — his earlier behavior had pushed Andrew too far. Lantine Jewelry was way out of his league.

Only now did Holden realize that Andrew's standing within the Anderson family was no small thing. Sure, his brother was the one running the show, but they were still brothers, blood through and through.

And Andrew never had a shortage of resources. Lantine Jewelry had simply taken an interest in his materials — that was all.

Once it all sank in, Holden closed his eyes in despair. What on earth had he been saying to Andrew this morning?

He was still beating himself up over it when his personal phone rang. Without even looking, he already knew it was his father calling — he'd clearly heard what happened, and a serious scolding was coming.

Sure enough, the moment he picked up, a furious voice came through the line.

"Holden! Look at the mess you've made! What did you promise me? Huh?! I told you not to cause trouble — and now you've gone and made an enemy of the Anderson family? Oh, you're really something, aren't you!"

Vaughn Edwards was absolutely seething. Holden had spent his early years messing around, refusing to come back and take over. It had taken so much convincing to get him back on track, and just when his company was finally heading in the right direction, he had to go and pick a fight with the Anderson family.

If it were anyone else, Vaughn would have just stepped in and cleaned it up. But the Anderson family was a different story entirely...

"Alright, I caused it, I'll handle it. You don't need to worry about it."

"You'll handle it? With what? Do you have any idea how Erik operates? Get back here, now!"

Vaughn nearly had another heart attack listening to Holden talk like he had no idea what he was up against. He gave him a direct order to get home immediately.

But Holden still had his own ideas. He brushed his father off with a few vague responses and made up an excuse to hang up.

He hadn't even put the phone down when it rang again. Holden was already annoyed and answered without looking.

"What now? I just told you, I got it, okay? I heard you!"

He assumed it was Vaughn calling back to nag him some more — until the voice on the other end stopped him cold.

"Mr. Edwards, I don't think you've agreed to anything with me. We didn't exactly reach an understanding this morning, did we?"

The man on the other end of the line was calm and even-toned, without a trace of anger. Yet his words sent a chill creeping down Holden's spine.

"Mr. Edwards, let's talk price again."

"We go with the original price we agreed on the first time. Payment and delivery at the same time. Once the deal is done, we're square."

The moment those words landed, it hit Holden like a freight train — everything that had happened today had been part of Andrew's plan all along.