Ste''s question caught them both off guard.


    "Are you and Joshua close?" she pressed. Her mind was still reeling, but her instincts were sharp. Jake wouldn''t have taken such a huge risk to help someone he barely knew.


    "Well..." Jake, a man ustomed to high-stakes situations, felt a bead of cold sweat form on his brow. His mind raced, trying to invent a usible story.


    Just then, Harold spoke up. "Forget it, Jake. We should just tell her."


    "But-"


    "No buts," Harold cut him off. "There are some things Ms. Cameron deserves to know." He turned to Ste. "Ms. Cameron, could we speak privately for a moment?"


    Joshua''s surgery would take hours. Ste nced at Antoney, who gave her a slight nod of encouragement. She followed Harold and Jake to a quiet corner of the hallway.


    "The truth is," Harold began, "Joshua was the one who arranged that five-billion- dor investment for you. He and Jake go way back. They... they both used to work for a man named Mr. J."


    Jake shot Harold a nervous look.


    Ste was stunned. "So... Joshua was the one who got me the funding?" No wonder the deal had always felt too good to be true. Even after using the money,


    a part of her had feared it was some borate scam.


    "Yes," Jake confirmed. "Jo-Joshua


    went to Mr. to call in a favor. Mr. J owed him, and Joshua used that debt to secure the five billion for you. It was meant as a gift, Ms. Cameron He only framed it as an investment because he was worried you wouldn''t ept it otherwise."


    A wave of emotion washed over Ste. A favor worth five billion dors was a debt heavier than life itself.


    "The money was yours to do with as you pleased," Harold continued gently. "But


    of all the people to help, why did it have to be Foreman?"


    When Foreman had fallen into Leonard''s trap, Ste had cleverly turned the tables and used the opportunity to buy out Israel''spany at rock bottom. But she had also used the remaining funds to bail Foreman out, giving The Richards Group the lifeline it needed to survive the onught from Leonard and Israel. In the end, Foreman''spany emerged not only unscathed but stronger than ever.


    Joshua despised Foreman, but he would never dictate what Ste did


    with something he had given her. So when she chose to help Foreman, he<fn2d0c> Checktest chapters at F?nd-Novel</fn2d0c>


    had safe nothing..


    to see that same man turn around and try to kill him...


    Ste''s eyes flickered with guilt. "Foreman helped me a great deal in the past. I couldn''t just stand by and watch him fail. And... at the time, I thought he was the one who invested the money."


    At the mention of that treacherous snake, Jake couldn''t help but grit his teeth. "Even if you''d known the money wasn''t from him, you still would have helped him, wouldn''t you?"