?Chapter 1637:


    William sounded almost bored, his tone azy drawl that made the contrast with Merrick’s panic even starker. “I knew the second you walked through the door at Briggs Group. Did you really think Arlo scrambled my brain? Turned me into some puppet he could yank around on strings?”


    Merrick’s voice hardened into something colder and more defiant. “Doesn’t matter what you knew. Carson already pulled out of the deal with you.” He had watched it happen with his own eyes — Carson’s face purple with rage the day they hauled him to the hospital. Even as the paramedics loaded him into the ambnce, Carson had bellowed that Briggs Group would never see another dime from him. The mission Arlo assigned wasplete. How could William possibly call that a failure?


    William spun a fork between his fingers, barely ncing at it — part of the borate ce setting spread across the private room’s table. “Who fed you that lie about Carson refusing to work with us?”


    He tilted his head toward Luca, who stepped forward andid a document on the table in front of Merrick: a contract bearing Carson’s signature in bold ink.


    Merrick froze. The blood drained from his face. He had heard Carson kill the partnership himself — heard every furious word. He had gone through the motions, apologized, pleaded, yed the part — but Carson had refused to bend. What had flipped his decision so suddenly? Did that mean every scheme, every calcted move, had been aplete waste?


    Merrick clenched his jaw and forced himself to meet William’s eyes. “What do you want from me?”


    William studied him with a gaze that could have frozen steel — empty of sympathy, stripped of mercy. “Simple. You tell Arlo your n worked perfectly. Make him feel confident enough to slip up. And from now on, every message you send him runs through me first.”


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    Merrick stared at him, eyes wide. “Arlo won’t buy it. He’s paranoid — far more careful than you realize.”


    William’s mouth curved into something that almost resembled amusement, as though he had expected exactly that response. “Which is why he needs proof of how valuable you are.” Confusion flickered across Merrick’s face. He had no idea where this was headed.


    William leaned back, his voice smooth and deliberate. “I’ll stage something that makes him trust you even more. Maybe you ‘discover’ one of my schemes and warn him just in time. Then, as a bonus, you appear topletely sabotage my deal with Carson. Arlo will think I’m cornered — that I’ll have no choice but toe crawling to him for help.”


    A chill crept down Merrick’s spine. The man sitting across from him wasn’t just dangerous — he was a predator dressed in expensive suits. William bore no resemnce to the confused, memory-addled fool Arlo had described. Not even close. Maybe from the very first day Merrick had stepped into Briggs Group, William had known exactly who he was — and had simply yed along, waiting.


    The worst part? Merrick hadn’t suspected a thing.


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