Chapter 53
The entire audience sat in stunned silence.
No one moved. No one breathed.
Isabella Montgomery watched the scene unfold with cold detachment.
Sophia Kensington stumbled backward, her face pale with shock.
How was this possible?
Isabella was supposed to be nothing but an adopted orphan! How could she be the director of the Gray Diamond Empire?!
It made no sense!
Sophia lunged toward Harrison Winslow in a blind rage. She grabbed his arm desperately. "I don't believe you! There's no way she's your boss! This has to be some kind of trick! Even if she didn't sleep with you, she must have seduced your father! Is that it? Is she your stepmother now? Did your father give her all his shares?"
"Enough!" Harrison shoved her away violently, his blue eyes flashing with icy contempt. "First you slander me, now you dare insult my elderly father? You want to know how Isabella became my director? I'll tell you exactly how—it's all because of you!"
He stepped closer, his voice cutting through the silent room. "Five years ago, when Isabella was exiled to Africa, you paid her maid to lead her to a cliff and push her off. But instead of dying, she discovered something incredible at the bottom—a massive diamond mine containing over three billion tons of diamonds!"
"The owner was a drunkard who had no idea what his land was worth. Isabella managed to gather five hundred thousand dollars and bought the entire mine from him. Do I need to explain what happened after that?"
What followed was a bidding war unlike any other. Everyone wanted the mine Isabella now owned. Offers poured in, but she refused them all. Meanwhile, the Gray Diamond Empire faced total collapse. Their own mines were depleted after a century of operation. Bankruptcy loomed. They couldn't even compete for the new mine—they had nothing left.
Then Isabella appeared like a miracle. She offered to save the Empire on one condition: sixty percent of the company's shares.
Faced with certain ruin or keeping forty percent, the Empire chose survival. The transfer papers were signed immediately.
Sophia didn't hear any of this. Harrison's first words echoed in her mind like a curse.
'It's all because of you...'
'All because of you...'
'All because of you...'
The words hammered against her skull. Rage, hatred, and bitter jealousy threatened to split her head open.
She had been the one to send Isabella to that cliff. She had unknowingly handed Isabella everything! This was all her own doing!
A scream caught in her throat.
Penelope Sinclair saw her daughter swaying on stage and rushed forward with security. They hurried Sophia away before she completely collapsed.
The press conference ended abruptly.
At the Blackwood Estate, Nathaniel Blackwood still watched the screen intently. "What's Isabella's current net worth?" he asked calmly.
Sebastian Blackwood pulled up a financial program, his fingers flying across the keyboard. "At least thirty billion dollars," he announced moments later.
A slight smile touched Nathaniel's lips. Impressive.
Thirty billion would easily place her on Forbes' Rich List. This woman never ceased to amaze him.
Within an hour, Twitter exploded with trending topics:
#Boss-Isabella
#Sophia-seduced-DiamondPrince
#Sophia-tried-to-kill-Isabella
#Isabella-owns-the-GrayDiamondEmpire
#Youtube-crashed
Isabella Montgomery had transformed from a nobody into the most searched diamond magnate—the woman who owned a mine with three billion tons of diamonds.