Chapter 8 The Share Transfer Agreement
843 Words
Even after Matthew ordered the bodyguards to drag Clara's unconscious body out of the pool, Ivy still frowned in displeasure.
"Why did you even bother saving her? It'd be better if she just died. No one would dare spill the truth. We can dump her body anywhere, and no one will ever find out."
Matthew paused for a split second, his voice cold and indifferent. "Don't worry about her. I'll handle everything."
Ivy's face lit up immediately. She snuggled closer and pressed her arm tightly against his chest. "I knew you'd always put me first."
Clara drifted in and out of a raging fever, her consciousness flickering on and off, before she finally came to hours later.
The entire Sharp family descended into utter chaos. Amid the scandal surrounding Clara, Sharp Corporation's stock plummeted, sparking fierce backlash from the board of directors.
Seizing this golden opportunity, Matthew quickly snapped up enough shares to become the majority shareholder and take full control of Sharp Corporation.
Now he stood in front of her, coldly shoving a share transfer agreement in her face.
"I've given Ivy a severe reprimand for what she did. She's apologized to you too. This is the share transfer agreement. The board is demanding your resignation. Your grandfather was so enraged he was hospitalized, and he's disowning you—he's already taken back 80% of your personal shares."
Clara's voice was hoarse and broken, barely a whisper. "Is this the first thing you say to me after I wake up?"
Matthew had just stepped out of the shower, dressed in casual loungewear; a bright, obvious hickey blazed on his neck—impossible to miss.
Her question made him freeze for a moment.
"Yes. Sign it."
He slid the document across the table toward her, his movements cold and final.
Clara picked it up and scanned every page frantically, until her eyes locked onto the line: voluntarily transferring all remaining personal shares to Matthew Coleman.
She burst into wild, hysterical laughter, then crumpled the contract and hurled it straight at his face.
"Matthew, how could you do this to me? Ivy held me underwater again and again! I begged her to stop, but she never showed any mercy! Is a half-hearted apology supposed to make this all right? Have you forgotten that I took you in and protected you with my own body? Without me, you'd still be a nobody in the Coleman family!"
She gasped for air and snarled, "Get out of my sight! How dare you covet everything that belongs to me? I'll never sign this! Get out!"
She swung her fists wildly at him, leaving bright red marks on his cheeks, but he stood perfectly still, not backing away an inch.
He suddenly clamped his hands around her wrists, his voice icy and ruthless. "Calm down. Your grandfather has already agreed to let me run Sharp Corporation. Ivy apologized to you. Can't you just be sensible and forgive her?"
"Piss off!" Clara snapped. She grabbed nearby objects and smashed them furiously, forcing him to retreat.
Matthew's face darkened with irritation. "We'll talk when you're calm."
With that, he slammed the door shut behind him.
She clearly heard him order the bodyguards outside, "Watch her. Don't let her go anywhere near Ivy."
The bodyguards' quiet responses followed at once.
Clara collapsed to the floor, broken sobs shaking her frail frame. She regretted every second she had wasted saving this heartless, ungrateful bastard.
Dawn broke. Still curled on the floor crying, Clara was roughly yanked to her feet by a maid.
"Ms. Sharp, Mr. Coleman wants you to attend tonight's banquet—he's going to arrange a suitable husband for you. After the recent scandal, your grandfather is so furious he's gravely ill. He thinks you're no longer fit to marry Mr. Coleman, and he insists you wed quickly to quiet the public gossip."
Clara felt like she had been thrown into an icy abyss, her mind going completely blank—she even wondered if she was hallucinating from hunger and despair.
Her voice was raw and trembling as she choked out, "What did you just say?"
The maid watched Clara's face turn deathly pale, a flicker of pity crossing her face as she whispered, "Ms. Sharp, what does it matter who you marry? Now that Mr. Coleman controls the Sharp family, whatever he's planned…"
Before the maid could finish, Clara shoved her aside with all her remaining strength and stormed downstairs, only to find the banquet hall already in full swing, packed with notorious playboys trailed by endless scandals.
They clustered around Matthew, openly jeering and mocking him.
"Matthew, you're putting us in a tough spot. Everyone knows Clara's damaged goods now—she messed around with Adrian. She's not worthy of being a real wife, maybe just a kept mistress… if anyone's stupid enough to want that trouble."
The men burst into loud, lewd laughter, immediately picking up on each other's unspoken insults.
"She's nothing like your aunt—pure, innocent, and untainted, the perfect picture of a noble lady."
- Writer
