Chapter 3 How Did He Acquire So Many Shares

Dean hauled Elin into the courthouse with a steely grip, his voice icy as he pushed her into a chair. "We're getting a divorce!" he declared, unmistakable finality lacing his words.

"No!" Elin's voice cracked as reality slammed into her. She clung to Dean's arm, her eyes brimming with desperation. "Please, don't do this. We've grown up together, been inseparable since we were kids. You know how deeply I care for you-you're everything to me."

"I can't be with someone who betrayed me like that!" Dean's retort was sharp, slicing through the tense air.

Elin's heart shattered, sending a jolt through her body that left her slumped in the chair, her fingers weakly falling away from his sleeve.

Did he think she had gone behind his back and betrayed him?

Just then, a woman with long, wavy hair and an air of composed maturity burst into the room. "Dean, I have the documents you requested," she announced, her voice a calm contrast to the storm brewing in the room.

Elin's eyes flickered with a glimmer of hope. "Camila, please, talk some sense into Dean. Remember how you've always been our peacemaker?" she implored, her voice a mix of hope and desperation.

Camila Mills had gone to the same university as Dean, and all three of them had been inseparable.

Every time Elin and Dean fought, Camila would step in, calm Dean down, and he would make up with Elin soon after. Elin assumed this time would play out just like all the others.

Camila hesitated, a shadow of worry in her eyes. "Elin, we've been through so much together, but what happened at the hotel was a big mistake.... I'm sorry, I can't side with you this time."

As they exchanged these tense words, Dean flipped open the folder, his tone commanding. "Sign it, Elin. Now," he insisted, his impatience palpable.

Elin's gaze flickered towards them, a memory surfacing: before their marriage, Dean suggested they sign a contract. According to the document, the one who cheated would walk away empty-handed.

"I won't sign, I won't!" Elin vehemently protested, shaking her head with desperate intensity. "Please, I'll do anything you ask, just don't end our marriage..." Her voice broke with the weight of her plea.

Yet, Dean's face was a mask of detachment.

Without a hint of emotion, he pressed the pen into her trembling hand and firmly instructed the staff, "Proceed with the divorce paperwork."

The process was brutally swift; within moments, they completed the divorce procedure.

"Dean!" she cried out, her voice choked with tears. Scrambling to her feet, she dashed after him, only to see him slipping into a car with Camila.

Through her tear-blurred vision, she thought she saw Camila's lips meet Dean's in a fleeting kiss.

Frozen in shock, Elin watched the car disappear into the distance. Just then, her phone shattered the silence, its ring sharp and urgent. It was the hospital.

"Ms. Walsh, your grandmother's in critical condition. You need to get to the hospital right away!"

"What?!" Panic surged through her as she hastily wiped her tears and flagged down a taxi.

Since the sudden demise of her parents, Asher and Julissa Walsh, last year, her grandmother, Paula Walsh, had been her sole remaining family. When Paula was battling tuberculosis in the hospital, it was Dean who had been by Elin's side offering unwavering support.

But now...

As Elin hurried to the hospital, the stark reality set in. She braced herself as she entered Paula's room, only to find her grandmother's condition alarmingly deteriorated, her life seemingly hanging by a thread.

Elin stepped toward Paula, lips parting to speak, when Paula bolted upright in bed and delivered a stinging slap across her face.

"I warned you, Elin! Dean was nothing more than your parents' adopted son. He was never meant for you, but you wouldn't listen! Now look at the ruins of what your father built!" Paula's voice was thick with scorn.

The scab on Elin's cheek was fragile, barely healed; Paula's slap tore it open anew, sending a rivulet of blood trickling down her jaw, a stark red against her skin.

"Grandma, don't worry. Infinity Group is still in my hands," Elin countered weakly, her voice a mix of defiance and despair.

Even amidst the chaos of a divorce, the shares she held in Infinity Group remained untouched, ensuring her position as the majority stakeholder.

But Paula was livid, her anger palpable as she hurled a newspaper at Elin. "Read it and see for yourself!"

Elin retrieved the paper from her lap, her eyes scanning the headline that blazed back at her: as of seven this morning, Dean had amassed sixty-three percent of Infinity Group's shares, wresting control of the company completely from her grasp!

"How... how did he acquire so many shares?" Elin's voice cracked, her eyes widening in shock and betrayal.

She remembered, a cold realization settling in; merely a month after their marriage, Dean had casually suggested a share transfer under the guise of corporate restructuring.

Believing their assets mutual, Elin had agreed, suspecting nothing.

But Dean had played her-a cruel game, using her trust to usurp Infinity Group right from under her.

"You foolish girl! How could you let a man deceive you so thoroughly?" Paula's voice was sharp, cutting deeper than the slap.

Suddenly, Paula's expression contorted with pain as she clutched at her chest, collapsing back onto the bed, her breaths shallow and strained.