Chapter 52

Megan flung her off with force, sending Natalie sprawling into Nancy's arms.

Her voice was ice-cold. "Watch that mouth of yours.Keep yapping and your whole family might just vanish without a trace."

Natalie clenched her teeth. "You're just throwing your weight around because of Tristan!"

Megan's lips curled into a chilling smirk. "Even without Tristan, I could still wipe the Banks family off the map."

That eerily calm tone and arrogant posture sent a shiver down Richard's spine.

After a moment of calculation, Richard frowned hard and ordered, "Natalie, apologize to Mrs. Reid. And to Miss Reid as well."

Natalie stared at him in disbelief. Her dad wasn't backing her up and now he wanted her to apologize to those two? "Why should I apologize? Rachel was the one seducing Kai-he's supposed to be my fiancé!"

Megan let out a short laugh.

"Seriously? The Lee and Banks families may be talking about a marriage alliance, but did either of you ever make an official announcement? Wasn't all that gossip just from your own mouth? Besides, Kai and Rachel have been dating for a while now. You really think you're the victim for trying to break them up?"

What pushed Megan to defend Rachel wasn't just because Rachel was Tristan's sister-even if only adopted. It was more about how much this whole arranged marriage mess hit close to home. Wasn't it that same crap that wrecked Tristan's parents 'marriage? All the damage it did to him as a kid...

Yeah,no way she was letting this go.

Nancy, aching for her daughter, finally spoke up. "lf the Lee and Banks families hold a press conference tomorrow and publicly announce the engagement,then Miss Reid should step aside, right?"

With her mom in her corner, Natalie lifted her chin,all smug. "Exactly. If that happens, Rachel's just the third party-plain and simple!"

"Heh." Megan's eyes darkened. "Sure. Then I'll just deal with Kai first. Let's see how you like being a widow before your engagement dinner's even over.'Homewrecker' seems like the least of your problems."

Rachel gave a supportive nod, but then paused, a little thrown.Wait...what?! No way! Don't take him out! She still wanted her precious Kai!

The whole Banks family trio was floored. This woman didn't play by any rulebook they knew!

Not far off, Jason and Samuel burst out laughing. This Megan? Definitely not your average chick.

Now they got why Tristan was so into her. She was something else.

Megan took Rachel's hand and smiled towards the Banks trio. "You know what? I really hope you do that press conference soon. I'm actually looking forward to it."

With that, the two turned to leave.

Suddenly, Megan paused, turned to glance back, her grin sharper. "Just make sure you're ready to deal with the fallout. And hey-don't say I didn't warn you."

Then she strode away again.

As she passed the Lewis brothers, she gave a small nod.

Jason had both hands in his pockets, smiling. "Miss Shaw's got some serious firepower."

Megan blinked at him, all innocent. "You're mistaken.I didn't go violent at all. Her green hair just happened to kiss the wall on its own. Nothing to do with me."

Samuel laughed. "Look at that. Everyone else out here's fake leather, and she's full-on premium hide.But seriously, bro, what does 'don't say I didn't warn you' even mean?"

Jason shot him a side-eye. "You should know. Sounds like something you'd mess up on your own."

Samuel scratched his head. "Means. chickening out?"As the Banks family walked past them, Samuel added, helpfully, "Uncle Richard, Aunt Nancy, just a heads-up -maybe don't go through with that engagement with the Lees."

Richard frowned,confused."Why? Even Tristan should be reasonable, shouldn't he?"

Clearly,with no one from the Reid family here, he felt safer speaking his mind.

Samuel shrugged. "This has nothing to do with Tristan.One Megan is enough to make both your families regret it."

With that, the Lewis brothers walked off.

Nancy gave Richard a half-resentful look. "Honey, are we really just gonna let them step on us like this?Look at what they did to our daughter's hand. If it doesn't bother you, it sure hurts me."Richard Banks clenched his jaw, eyes darkening. "I'll contact the Lees when I get back. We'll hold a press conference tomorrow. Let's see just how much damage one girl from the Shaw family can really do."

Dreamscape Manor.

After washing up, Megan sat onthe bed, admiring her spoils of the night.

Tristan looped his arms around her slim waist from behind."You like it?"

"If it's from you, I love it. Even if it was... I dunno,a poop ball."

He gently turned her porcelain face toward him, eyes growing darker. "That pretty mouth really shouldn't say stuff like that."

"Mn-"

Their kiss grew heated, rolling from one end of the bed to the other.

Duang!!!

They tumbled off the edge, landing hard on the carpeted floor. It still stung.

Megan looked down at the man beneath her, grinning."You know what we look like right now?"

Tristan wrapped his hands around her waist. "What?"

"Two worms. Two worms about to do very worm-like things."

*Smack!*

He gave her perky butt a light swat.

"Can't you come up with something nicer?"

She pouted dramatically, eyes fulL of mischief."Fine!Two snakes. Twisting, turning, passionately tangled snakes."

*Smack!*

"Try again."

*Smack!*

"One more time!"

Mrs. Jones walked by, hearing the chaos inside,and couldn't help but chuckle quietly.

These two. so wild.

The next day.

The Banks and Lee families were holding their joint engagement press conference at the Capital Convention Center.

In the classroom,Rachel passed her phone to Megan."I'm toast, sis. They really painted me as the other woman this time."

Megan gazed ahead. Natalie, also attending the lecture, turned and flashed a smug smile her way.

Megan smiled right back...and casually flipped her the international bird.

Natalie's face turned pitch black with rage

With her backpack slung over one shoulder, Megan slipped out through the back door and darted into the ladies' room.

[Oh, you wanna play dirty?Time to let me show you what "Daily Fresh Drain" feels like.]

The so-called "Daily Fresh Drain" was her method of financially bleeding them dry.

Basically, she'd inject a ton of funds to drive up their stock price, then dump it all quickly while feeding bad press into the market. Retail investors panic, sell like crazy, and the stock price free-falls.

Classic short selling. Run this a few times, even stable companies start to crack. Smaller ones? Straight to collapse.

Megan had already bought up a large chunk of Banks Group stock a couple days ago and now her pockets were overflowing.

She dumped everything that morning and released a juicy story about internal financial fraud at the company.

And just like that, Banks Group's share price dropped like a rock-from limit-up to limit-down in one wild swing. The satisfaction was next-level.

Meanwhile, at the press conference, Richard' face darkened the moment he saw the plummeting stock numbers.

In a single instant, nearly 7 billion gone.

"Look!"

"Check the big screen!"

Every camera and lens zoomed in on the screen behind the Banks and Lee families.