The Love I Begged For Was Never Real novel Chapter 383

Meanwhile, Gideon's ruthless directive to obliterate Xavier Holdings swept through the Metropolis business world like a hurricane.

In just one night, the Xavier family's decades-old empire faced an apocalyptic collapse.

The moment the stock market opened the next morning, Xavier Holdings' core stocks didn't even survive five minutes before the billions of dollars dumped by The Hayes Group crashed them to absolute rock bottom.

After receiving Gideon's explicit warning, every partner bank recalled their loans overnight. Even the emergency funds previously approved for Lawrence Atelier's haute couture projects were instantly frozen.

The old friends and business partners who used to fawn over the Xavier family now treated them like a plague. After hearing about the joint blacklist from the Hayes and Pierce empires, they severed all financial ties overnight and mercilessly poached every single one of Xavier Holdings' ongoing projects.

The towering Xavier empire crumbled with a single flip of Gideon's hand.

To make matters worse, the news Liam released to the media—branding Nora as Giselle's killer—sent a massive shockwave through the city's elite circles.

Fueled by deliberate media manipulation and the gleeful malice of rival families, Nora was painted as a vicious murderer driven by years of bitter jealousy.

The Xavier family became the city's favorite punching bag. Everyone scrambled to sever ties or stomp on their graves, tearing the family business apart in the blink of an eye.

...

It was another bleak, overcast afternoon.

Nora leaned against the wall beneath the window, drifting in a hazy state of semi-consciousness, when a muffled commotion pierced through the heavy soundproof glass from the front courtyard.

"Let me go... Take your hands off me! Let me see Gideon! Let me see my daughter!"

Nora trembled violently, her sluggish nerves snapping to attention at the familiar sound.

It was Mom.

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