Chapter 26 A Dangerous Game
“Say something! What does this mean, huh? Is Zayden hacking out of the engagement?”
“Stop yelling. What Zayden’s doing isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Look at you–do you think you’re acting like someone from the Fairchild family?” Colton’s patience with Olive had clearly thinned lately
“And Quinn is?” Olive shot back, unwilling to be compared.
Colton didn’t even finish listening. The second a new message popped up, he grabbed his briefcase and stormed out. ignoring her completely,
Left behind. Olive turned to Xavier, heartbroken. “Xavier, did you see that? Colton didn’t even look at me.”
Xavier sighed and got to his feet. “Right now, everyone’s saying Quinn is the one who actually graduated from Crestmoor University of Finance. Colton,cares a lot about that kind of thing. Of course he’s cold toward you.”
That lit a fire in Olive. She shot up, her voice full of stubborn pride. “Then I’ll go to the office tomorrow! I’ll prove myself”
Meanwhile, something strange happened during Quinn’s trading session. The futures that were supposed to go up tanked the moment she bought them, and the ones she had just dumped? Shot through the roof..
Someone was deliberately shorting her trades.
She dug into the data, traced the activity back to a Fairchild account
It wasn’t Xavier. He didn’t have the stomach for this kind of scorched–earth tactic.
That only left one person.
Within thirty minutes, every stock in her portfolio was in the red. She hadn’t just lost days of gains–she was in the red, owing
money.
Stanley, sitting nearby going over his own materials, was practically losing his mind. “Quinn, what are you waiting for! If you don’t sell now, you’re gonna lose everything!”
Bur Quinn didn’t move. She didn’t believe the Fairchild’s would blow all their resources just to mess with her.
Her phone rang. She picked
- up.
Olive’s smug voice came through loud and clear. “You think you’re some genius? Please. It only took me half an hour to wipe. out everything you’ve got. You’re no match for me.”
Quinn hung up without responding
Then, in the final hour before the market closed, her stocks bounced back like a rubber band. All of them.
Stanley practically collapsed in relief. “Jesus, Quinn, I almost had a heart attack. If you’d listened to me and sold everything. we’d be screwed right now.”
Quinn gave a small shrug
Stanley stared at her like she was some kind of mythical creature. “You’re unreal. If I had even half your guts, I wouldn’t be stuck begging for scraps from the Fairchilds.”
At that moment, inside the Fairchild Group building, the entire floor was dead silent. No one dared to breathe too loud.
And it was all thanks to Olive.
“Ate vo
you trying to give me a heart attack!” Colton clutched his chest, pointing a trembling finger at her forehead.
Chapter 26 A Dangerous Game
“Investment? Did it make a profit!”
Behind him, a dozen employees were scrambling to fix the mess she’d crea
“That stuff takes time. It’s all about long–term growth, right?”
“You used the company’s accounts!”
That was it–Colton completely lost it and lunged for her.
Xavier jumped in between them. “Colton, calm down. Please. Just breathe.”
Finished
“Calm down? She emptied the company account. How are we supposed to pay for the Dunn contract now? We just lost a huge deal!”
Olive’s knees buckled. She hadn’t realized it would spiral this badly.
“I didn’t mean to. I was just trying to make a good impression. Xavier gave me the account access. I… I’ll go home and reflect.”
And with that, she bolted, not even sparing Xavier a second glance.
Colton turned his fury on Xavier. “You gave her the account?”
Xavier opened his mouth, then shut it again. He didn’t say a word.
Colton shook him off with a scowl. “Let go of me.”
He fixed his sleeves and stared at Xavier with thinly veiled disappointment. “If you really gave her access, you should’ve known better than to let her do something like this.”
Xavier said nothing.
Colton exhaled, trying to cool down. “I heard Zayden invested in Quinn’s new company. Looks like he’s leaning toward her after all. Let’s not even bring up the engagement anymore. Co talk to Quinn. See if you can convince her to come back.”
Xavier had no choice but to nod.
But when he got to the garage, he found Olive already there, leaning against his car with a bright smile.
“Xavier, Colton wasn’t too mad at you, was he? I’m really sorry. I just panicked
