Bitcoin Billionaire: I Regressed to Invest in the First Bitcoin!-Chapter 329: You’ve Been Served

Under Darren’s order, the lawsuits started rolling out.

Ms. Hargrove sat in her corner office on the forty-second floor, the morning sun gleaming off the glass and steel of the city skyline. But the view offered her no comfort today.

She was on the phone, and she sounded stressed, twirling a ball pen between her fingers. "The project is fully capitalized. I’m just moving some assets around to cover the initial ground-breaking costs. It’s standard procedure."

On the other end of the line, the developer sounded skeptical. "Ms. Hargrove, we need the deposit by noon. The contractors are threatening to walk."

"You’ll have it," she lied. "I just need to authorize a transfer from my holding company."

She hung up, her chest tightening. She had leveraged her position in Steele Investments to secure the loan for this project.

Since the sale was stopped, she had nothing now. Nothing. But surely, she could still borrow against them?

Darren wouldn’t freeze her out completely. He was a businessman; he would understand she was just exploring options.

Her office door suddenly opened without a knock.

Hargrove spun her chair around, ready to berate her assistant. "I told you, no interruptions—"

It wasn’t her assistant.

A man in a cheap, ill-fitting suit stood there. He looked bored. In his hand was a thick manila envelope.

"Ms. Victoria Hargrove?"

"Who are you? How did you get past security?"

"Process server," the man mumbled, tossing the envelope onto her mahogany desk. "You’ve been served."

Hargrove stared at the envelope as if it were a bomb. "Served? For what?"

"Civil suit," the man said, already turning to leave. "Plaintiff is Steele Investments. Breach of Fiduciary Duty, Bad Faith Negotiation, and... something about ’Reclamation of Dividends.’ Have a nice day."

Hargrove ripped the envelope open with a pounding heart. Her eyes scanned the legal jargon, skipping over the "Whereases" and "Heretofores" until she hit the bold text near the bottom.

MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION: ASSET FREEZE.

...pending the investigation into corporate espionage and conspiracy to devalue stock, all assets held by the Defendant in relation to Steele Investments are hereby frozen effective immediately...

"Frozen?" she whispered, the blood draining from her face.

Her computer pinged. A notification from her bank.

TRANSACTION FAILED: INSUFFICIENT AVAILABLE FUNDS.

Hargrove dropped into her chair, the phone slipping from her hand. "He’s suing me? I’m completely fucked. I didn’t want to do it in the first place!"

She sunk her face into her hands. "It’s all Caldwell’s fault!"

Across town, in the LinLux Solutions, Mr. Lin paced back and forth.

He stopped in front of a large screen showing the live data feed from Trendteller, Darren’s AI prediction model.

"It’s fine," Lin muttered to himself, wiping sweat from his upper lip. "I didn’t say yes immediately. I didn’t sign anything. I just agreed later on."

He had convinced himself of this over the last twenty-four hours. Sure, he had entertained the idea of selling, but he hadn’t actually done it. He was a silent observer. He was safe.

"Mr. Lin?"

He jumped, spinning around.

His legal counsel, a young man named Eric, stood in the doorway, looking pale. Beside him was a severe-looking woman with a briefcase.

"What is it, Eric?" Lin asked.

"We... we just received a filing from Steele Investments," Eric stammered.

"A filing?" Lin laughed nervously. "For what? I didn’t sell!"

The woman stepped forward. She handed him a document. "Mr. Lin, you are being sued for Breach of Non-Disclosure Agreement and Conspiracy by Complicity."

"Complicity?" Lin screeched. "I didn’t do anything!"

"You can argue that in court, sir," the woman said coldly.

She pointed to the screen behind him: the Trendteller feed.

"Furthermore," she added, "Mr. Steele is seeking an immediate injunction to revoke your access to all Trendteller API keys and data streams. He argues that you are a security risk."

As she spoke, the screen behind Lin flickered. The streams of data froze. Then, the entire monitor went black.

ACCESS DENIED.

Lin stared at the blank screen. His entire tech portfolio relied on that data. Without it, his algorithms were blind. He was finished.

"No. No. No." He turned to the woman, hurrying after her as she left. "Please, let me speak to Mr. Steele. I’m sure I can change his mind, please give me this chance."

"Mr. Steele’s mind is already made up, Mr. Lin. Good day."

Lin collapsed on the white floor of his company, in front of his employees staring at him.

In a modest office in the garment district, Mr. Patel was hyperventilating.

He wasn’t a shark like Hargrove or a tech mogul like Lin. He was a desperate man who had gotten lucky investing early in Darren Steele from Vance’s suggestions.

He had been nervous about the agents, yes, but he had stayed. He had listened. He had let greed whisper in his ear.

Now, he sat at his cluttered desk, his head in his hands.

"I’m sorry, Darren," he whispered to the empty room. "I’m sorry."

Knock knock.

Patel jumped so hard his chair rattled. "C-come in?"

A courier walked in, dressed in the uniform of a high-end legal courier service. "Mr. Patel?"

"Yes?"

"Courtesy copy of a filing with the Superior Court," the courier said, placing a thick binder on the desk. "Mr. Vance sends his regards."

Patel stared at the surprisingly thick binder. He opened it with trembling fingers.

PLAINTIFF: DARREN STEELE

DEFENDANT: RAJ PATEL

CAUSE OF ACTION: GROSS NEGLIGENCE & WASTED OPPORTUNITY COSTS.

Patel read the summary. Darren wasn’t only suing for the attempted sale, he was also suing for the time.

The document calculated, down to the minute, the value of the company’s time wasted during the unauthorized meeting, multiplied by the potential revenue loss of the distraction.

"Why’s he being so petty? He could ruin me with this," Patel whimpered, tears welling in his eyes. "He’s going to take everything."

As the sponsors suffered the consequences of their actions, things rolled in motion for Darren’s defense team.

Vance and Daisy headed to the Superior Court of Calivernia to get everything finalized.

They walked down the busy hallway where lawyers in cheaper suits bargained plea deals with clients crying on benches and clerks rushing with stacks of files.

As usual, Vance earned greetings and glances from his fellow lawyers as his reputation preceded him. He moved with swagger and aura,his dark suit absorbing the light, his expression lethargic.

Daisy was almost the same.

They had different roles. Daisy Chen was Darren’s lead defense attorney and litigator. While Vance was the General Counsel.

Daisy’s role was to speak and defend Darren in court, Vance’s role was broader.

He took full responsibility for cases. If Daisy wasn’t available, he assigned cases to other lawyers. He prepared litigation strategies, oversaw preparation, and managed negotiations.

It wasn’t necessary for him to appear in court, but Vance preferred to. Basically, he was the legal architect behind Darren’s cases.

Daisy walked fast but somehow still maintained the same pace with Vance who was almost floating.

"Three injunctions granted before breakfast," Daisy said, her heels clicking rapidly on the marble floor. She checked her watch. "Hargrove’s default clause should be triggering right about... now."

Vance smirked. "You are getting the hand of this, Daisy."

Daisy shrugged. "Maybe I am. The weekend in the resort put a lot of things in perspective for me."

Vance looked at her. "Yeah? And what are those?"

Daisy’s eyes drifted for a while, remembering Darren with the other women. "Don’t worry about it," she said, clutching a stack of files to her chest.

They reached the heavy oak doors of Courtroom 4. Vance pushed them open and Daisy squeezed in shoulder-first.

Inside, the courtroom was quiet. Judge Langley, an older man with gray hair and a face etched with the weariness of hearing a thousand lies a day, sat on the bench reviewing a docket.

"Counselors," Judge Langley said, not looking up. "You’re early."

"We like to be efficient, Your Honor," Daisy said, marching to the plaintiff’s table and setting down her files. "Daisy Chen and Jonathan Vance for the Plaintiff, Mr. Darren Steele."

Langley looked up over his reading glasses. "Ah. Mr. Steele. The man who seems to be suing half the city this morning. I’ve read the motions. ’Wasted Opportunity Costs’? Really, Ms. Chen? It’s a bit... novel."

"It’s pertinent, Your Honor," Daisy shot back. "The defendants engaged in a conspiracy that distracted key personnel and destabilized shareholder confidence during a critical market window. We can quantify the loss. We have the metrics."

Langley sighed, rubbing his temples. "I’m sure you do. Mr. Vance usually brings receipts."

"Always," Vance said smoothly, leaning against the table. "We’re looking to set a preliminary hearing date for the injunctions against Mr. Lin and the asset freeze on Ms. Hargrove."

"Fine," Langley muttered, checking his calendar. "I have an opening next Tuesday at 9:00 AM. Does that work for—"

He stopped. His clerk had just handed him a note.

Langley read it, his eyebrows raising slightly. He looked back at Vance and Daisy, his expression shifting from weary to intrigued.

"Actually," the Judge said slowly. "It seems we might have a complication. Or perhaps... an expansion of scope."

"Your Honor?" Daisy asked, tilting her head.

"The court has been notified that a third party has taken a keen interest in this case," Langley said. "A very specific interest."

Behind them, the double doors of the courtroom opened.

Daisy and Vance turned around.

Standing in the aisle was a familiar face of a woman that they had hoped never to see in a long time. She held a briefcase in one hand and a badge in the other.

Lilian Greaves.

Vance’s eyes narrowed slightly. Daisy stiffened.

Lilian smiled. "Hello, guys. Long time no see."