As for Mr. Burton, he’d already stepped down; he no longer had the authority to move such a large sum from The Burton Group.
The Watson family, who were on good terms with Stella, had just sunk a fortune into a massive new project. Their company’s accounts were completely drained—there was no way they could offer Stella much help now.
From Israel’s perspective, if Stella managed to scrape together a billion dollars, that would already be a miracle.
After mulling it over, Jonathan and his two brothers all came to the same conclusion: in the end, Stella would have no choice but to turn to the Williams family for help.
With that in mind, Israel’s arrogance only grew.
He looked down at Stella from his seat, his tone condescending. “Stella, you’d better apologize to me now. Next time you come looking for my help, I won’t be so easy to deal with.”
Stella turned to Aicken. “Aicken, why don’t you recommend a few neurologists to the second son here? Maybe he can get his head checked, stop embarrassing himself in public.”
Aicken, ever the dutiful assistant, nodded. “Of course. I’ll see to it right away.” He really did head off to the corner, instructing the assistants to start looking for top neurologists.
Israel glared coldly at Stella. “Keep acting tough, Stella. I’ll be waiting for the day you come crawling to me for help.”
Stella just smiled. “Don’t worry, Israel. By the time you go to bed tonight, your wish might just come true. After all, in your dreams, anything’s possible.”
With that, she ignored him and walked away, her entourage following behind.
Once Stella and her group had left, Aurora, who’d remained silent until then, finally spoke up.
When Jonathan had returned from the hospital, he’d brought up the Pearce family’s offer to transfer Stella’s shares. His plan was simple: buy one percent of Stella’s original shares, with any extra counted as a show of support for her as a member of the Williams family. If Stella couldn’t pull off the acquisition, the Williams family would step in and take over. Either way, they couldn’t lose.
What none of them stopped to consider, though, was whether the Pearce family would even agree to sell to the Williams family just because they were willing to sell to Stella.
It was at that moment that Israel’s tone shifted.
“But Aurora’s got a point. Even if Stella can’t raise all the money herself, what if she brings in outside investors, or sells her shares to someone else and actually manages to get the funds together? We need to make sure that door stays firmly shut.”
Aurora and Coleman exchanged a look.
Coleman cautioned, “Israel, don’t do anything reckless. Every time you’ve tried to go head-to-head with Stella recently, you’ve come away empty-handed.”

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