---- Chapter 25 25 Ava's attack was well-orchestrated. She leveraged Marc Chen's insider knowledge of Goldstein Global's vulnerabilities. She painted herself as a victim of a ruthless billionaire, a narrative that the media eagerly consumed. Lawsuits were filed. Regulatory bodies launched investigations Goldstein Global's stock tanked. Investor confidence evaporated. Liam returned to a company in chaos. Internal factions, emboldened by his perceived weakness and the public scandal, were making power plays. External enemies circled like sharks, sensing blood in the water. He fought back with the ferocity of a cornered animal. He worked day and night, battling on multiple fronts - legal, financial, public relations. He managed to neutralize Ava's most immediate threats, discredit her more outrageous claims. The company survived, but it was battered, diminished. And then, his grandmother, Eleanor Goldstein, stepped in. The retired matriarch, still a significant shareholder and a figure of immense moral authority, arrived unannounced at his ---- office. She was old, frail, but her eyes were as sharp as ever. Eleanor surveyed the wreckage of Liam's office, the empty scotch bottles, the disarray. She looked at her grandson, at the shell of the man he had become. "What have you done, Liam?" she asked, her voice quiet but carrying the weight of generations. Liam, exhausted, broken, finally confessed everything. The affair, the lies, Maya's departure, his destructive pursuit, Ava's revenge. He didn't spare himself. He laid bare the full extent of his folly. Eleanor listened in silence, her expression unreadable. When he finished, she rose, walked to a heavy antique cane leaning in the corner - her late husband's. She handed it to Liam "In our family, Liam," she said, her voice trembling slightly, "we take responsibility for our actions. There are consequences." She gestured to the floor. "Kneel." Liam, shamed and humbled, knelt Eleanor raised the cane and brought it down, hard, across his shoulders. Again. And again. A traditional, brutal, family punishment for bringing dishonor. Liam didn't flinch, didn't cry out. He accepted the blows, the physical pain a welcome distraction from the torment in his ---- soul. He collapsed, not from the pain, but from sheer emotional and physical exhaustion. Eleanor watched him, tears in her own eyes. "This is not the man your grandfather and | raised," she whispered. "You have shamed us all."