She turned on her heel, prepared to walk out, and take her complaints to her father-in-lawl. But before she could reach the door, Spencer exhaled slowly, suppressing the guilt that weighed heavily on him all the ti. His voice was calm when he spoke up. "It's not about moving on, Mother. It's about losing the advantage."
Madam Collins halted in her tracks, her brow furrowed as she turned back to face him. "What are you saying?" she asked suspiciously.
Spencer leaned back in his chair, his fingers drumming against the closed file in front of him. "By spreading rumors about FineArt, you've already exposed your plans. lanie is no fool when it cos to business. If anything, she thrives in adversity. The biggest example being ABC. She has already begun stabilizing things—handling custors, reassuring employees, and making adjustnts that will keep LuxeArt afloat. She won't sit back and wait for us to take advantage of her weaknesses."
He paused, allowing his words to sink in before continuing. "If we move forward with this plan now, she will adapt. She will co up with a new strategy, one we won't be able to predict. And worse, she will realize that she has a leak within her team. Once she figures that out, she will get rid of our spies and tighten security around her operations. If that happens, we won't just lose this battle—we will lose our ability to anticipate her moves altogether."
Madam Collins pursed her lips, the fire in her eyes dimming slightly as she absorbed his reasoning. She was not a woman who backed down easily, but she was also not foolish enough to dismiss her son's well-calculated argunt. Slowly, she walked back toward him, her tone asured as she asked, "So, you have another plan?"
A slow, knowing smirk ca on Spencer's lips as he nodded. "Yes. Instead of using our spies now, we play the long ga. Focus on the strategy I've proposed for now—let lanie carry on with her work undisturbed. Let her think she has the upper hand. Once her plans are fully in motion, and she has secured the loans she so desperately needs, that's when we strike. We wait until she's committed—until she's invested too much to back out. That's when we hit her where it hurts the most."
Madam Collins studied her son carefully, her expression unreadable. Then, slowly, a small, satisfied smile curved her lips. "Cunning," she admitted, nodding approvingly. "I suppose I raised you well after all. Promise , Spencer. You will avenge your mother's humiliation. She has made a laughing stock among so many people! Don't forget that, Spencer!"
She sat down in the chair across from him, lacing her fingers together as she tilted her head. "Tell more. How exactly do you propose we execute this plan? We need to be ticulous."
Spencer sighed and explained a few things to his mother, "First, we let her get comfortable. She thinks she's in control right now, but that's exactly what we want her to believe. The mont she secures those loans, she'll start making investnts and working on this. She'll hire new talent, expand production, and revamp LuxeArt's image. We let her go all in. The more she puts into this, the higher the stakes beco."
"And then, we create a crisis. A big order gone wrong, multpile lossed and eventually, all her money will be drained."
Madam Collins nodded, pleased with this! Yes! If she had already taken loans then her credit standing in the market would go down and she would not be able to secure the money again. At a ti like this, she would really push her into the ground.
Spencer would indeed go according to the strategy—but not for the sa reason his mother believed. While Madam Collins was consud with the idea of ruining lanie completely, Spencer had sothing else in mind.
He didn't just want to see her struggle—he wanted to break down every wall she had built between them until she had no choice but to turn to him.
His mother's thirst for revenge was short-sighted. To him, what lanie had done was simply getting back at his mother. Of course she would have wanted to take out her anger on the person who had made her life a living hell for the last three years.
But ha had no intention to destroy LuxeArt. If that place was completely destroyed, there would be way for him to control lanie. That place was her family's legacy to her and thus her only weakness.
No, destruction and humiliation wasn't the endga Spencer envisioned. What he wanted was for lanie to realize that she couldn't win without him. That no matter how hard she fought, she would simply find herself back in his orbit.
So, while Madam Collins spoke of humiliating lanie, Spencer leaned back in his chair, silent, allowing her to revel in her fantasies of revenge. Let her think they were on the sa page. Let her believe he was the son she had molded.
But in the end, the only one who would have the last laugh was him.
He didn't know why lanie consud his thoughts so completely now. It hadn't been part of his original plan. He'd thought that once she was out of the picture, he could finally move forward with Hallie. And yet, every ti he closed his eyes, it wasn't Hallie he saw. It was lanie. The way she used to look at him when she still believed in him, the way her body fit against his in sleep, how she had once instinctively reached for him in the dark, trusting him even in unconsciousness, on the night he had returned. How things would have been if he had indeed taken her then...
He wanted that back. All of it. The quiet monts, the fire in her eyes, the way she used to say his na, even the sadness that he had put there. It was all his. She was his, even if she refused to acknowledge it now. Even if she had turned to Adam in a desperate attempt to hurt him. She would always be his. And by the ti he was done, she wouldn't just realize it—she would have no choice but to accept it.
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