A Wall Street Genius’s Final Investment Playbook
Chapter 209

The fox hunt takes place in Middleburg, Virginia.

After flying from New York to Washington, you must drive another hour to reach this quiet town.

While I was enjoying the view from the limousine window after the flight, my phone rang.

The caller was Pierce.

[You're postponing again—what on earth is going on?]

We had a dinner appointment scheduled for tomorrow evening.

But due to the Gerrard situation, the schedule got tangled, and I had to delay again.

[Is something serious happening?]

There was a hint of anxiety in Pierce's voice.

I wondered why he was so tense, but I soon understood the reason.

‘PTSD, maybe?’

Every time I said “something’s going on,” a national-level crisis usually followed.

From Pierce’s perspective, he had no idea what I might be up to again, so of course he was uneasy.

‘But really, what should I even say to this…’

Well, the thing I brought up to forcibly settle his ‘debt’ was serious enough.

It involved cleaning up the mess Goldman made overseas…

Although the U.S. generally doesn’t meddle in other countries’ affairs, this was still an international incident—hardly something that could be brushed off as “minor.”

[If you just give me a rough idea, I could at least prepare until we meet.]

“No, it won’t help even if you prepare.”

‘Oops.’

I should have tried to ease his mind, but my honest thoughts slipped out before I realized it.

I’ve been overloaded lately, and my focus is slipping.

‘I’ve just been too busy.’

With Gerrard’s appointment as CEO, the long-awaited agreement on animal hospital medical data was finally secured.

I’d finally gotten my hands on valuable AI training data.

So I’d just returned from a trip to California to finalize collaborations with several startups based on it.

And on top of that, I had to prepare for the fox hunt—there simply wasn’t enough time.

Anyway.

That’s how I ended up slipping up.

It felt like Pierce’s face lost all color on the other end of the line.

“There’s really no need to worry too much. We’re still at a stage where it can be managed.”

[What do you mean by ‘still’…?]

“I’ll explain everything when I return. I’ll be extremely busy for the next few days, so I’d appreciate it if you could refrain from calling during that time.”

Click.

I hung up the call and turned my head—at some point, the view outside had changed.

The city had disappeared, and gently rolling hills stretched out before me.

That meant the destination was near.

I immediately began reviewing the final objective.

‘First, I have to convince Judy…’

The fox hunt was tomorrow.

Before that, I was scheduled to stay the night at Judy’s mansion, where I had a critical task to handle.

‘Time to sort things out.’

Judy was someone trying to put her son on the throne in her own way.

In other words, she was a fellow ‘kingmaker’ like me.

But too many captains can sink a ship.

There’s no need for two kingmakers.

So the first objective: convince her to yield that position to me, so I would be the sole kingmaker.

Of course, if our strategies aligned, I wouldn’t need to push her out…

‘But her strategy is the exact opposite of mine.’

According to Gerrard, Judy planned to align with the eldest uncle’s line to secure the heir position.

In contrast, I intended to stay independent from both the eldest and youngest uncles and build my own faction.

Conflict was inevitable.

‘There’s no way Judy will back down easily.’

But I had prepared a plan to persuade her.

After many rounds of review, I was confident she could be convinced.

However…

An uneasy feeling kept swirling in my mind.

‘Am I overlooking something?’

A sense that I was missing something important.

But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t recall what it might be.

I found out what it was as soon as I arrived at the mansion.

Among those who came to greet me, there was someone unexpected.

“I heard Gerrard caused quite a mess because of you.”

The one who spoke was not Rachel, Gerrard, or Judy—faces I had expected to see.

The person who approached me was none other than… attorney Raymond.

Yes, Gerrard’s father.

#

When the Genesis incident broke out in the past, Gerrard had summoned his father, not his mother, to resolve it.

Meaning Raymond, too, played an important advisory role for Gerrard.

In other words, he was also a kingmaker.

To summarize?

Contrary to my initial calculations, I now had to push aside two kingmakers to take the position.

But there was a problem.

‘I never accounted for this side…’

However, I quickly inferred Raymond’s stance.

It was thanks to a single line Judy muttered with a deep sigh to Rachel.

“Rachel, how about giving Sean a tour of the mansion? Let’s go for a quick walk. You don’t need to mind this guest—he’ll be leaving soon.”

She was planning to get Raymond out of the way while I was gone.

The fact that Judy was trying so hard to exclude him from the conversation meant that the two kingmakers were at odds.

But Raymond had no intention of backing down.

“If it’s about Gerrard, I have the right to know.”

“Still, barging in without an invitation—what’s that supposed to be?”

“I haven’t signed the divorce papers yet, so legally I still own this house too, don’t I?”

I’d heard they were preparing for a divorce, but their relationship seemed worse than I thought.

As I stood there watching, chaos erupted.

“Mother, Father, please not now…”

“Sean, let’s step outside—”

“Where do you think you’re taking him?”

“But…”

“Didn’t I tell you to leave?”

The parents argued over whether or not to take me away, Gerrard tried to mediate in vain, and Rachel scrambled to control the mess.

‘This is insane.’

I had unintentionally been dropped right into the middle of a messy family drama.

Ironically, it seemed I was the best person to sort it out.

From Rachel’s helpless expression, it looked like this wasn’t the first time this had happened.

‘I can’t believe I’m doing this…’

I did feel a flash of disillusionment.

But after a light sigh, I spoke firmly.

“Let’s not do this—why don’t we all talk together, including Raymond? It’d be better to settle this at once than repeat the same discussion later. I’m a busy man, too.”

Everyone went silent and looked at me.

Gerrard and Rachel looked at me as if saying, ‘How could you say that to your elders?’

Judy and Raymond had expressions that said, ‘Who are you to make that call?’

I didn’t hesitate to continue.

“If not, I’ll be leaving.”

That finally seemed to jolt the parents back to reality.

They could fight any time, but the urgent matter now was questioning me about what recently happened with Gerrard.

If I left, the entire meeting would become pointless.

“Understood. Sean, please come this way.”

In the end, they accepted my proposal.

However, Judy looked back at Gerrard and Rachel and gave an order.

It was a dismissal.

“Rachel, Gerrard. You two help prepare dinner in the dining room.”

“Huh? But…”

While the two looked flustered, Judy shot me a look and asked, “Do you need the children’s support for this conversation?”

If they insisted on following me, it would only complicate matters.

I smiled calmly and replied,

“No, I’ll be fine on my own.”

Then I turned and gave Rachel and Gerrard a slight nod.

A signal to trust me and leave it to me.

They hesitated for a moment but soon nodded and stepped back.

And I let out another sigh internally.

‘What on earth is this situation…’

#

Next, I followed Judy and Raymond into the drawing room.

Once seated, both of them stared at me with stern expressions.

‘Feels like I’ve gone back to my school days…’

It felt like a kid who had done something wrong being dragged in to be scolded.

And honestly, it wasn’t an inaccurate comparison.

These two clearly suspected I was a negative influence on Gerrard.

And I had to persuade them to entrust their son’s future to me.

Judy spoke first.

“I’m curious why you’re trying to give Gerrard the CEO position. It doesn’t seem like you're doing it just for my son’s happiness…”

There was clear wariness in her voice.

Just as I was about to respond, before I could even open my mouth, an interrupter cut in.

“You make it sound like I approached him with an agenda. We've known each other for a long time, and it’s not unusual to help each other given our respective positions.”

“My son’s behavior changed suddenly—don’t you think staying so relaxed in response is unfit for a responsible parent?”

“Isn’t it more reasonable to interpret it as a positive change rather than a bad one? Jumping to suspicion first seems stranger to me.”

Their conversation quickly turned into a tense standoff.

Suddenly, I felt like I understood why Gerrard had fallen victim to his uncles’ gaslighting.

‘The problem is the parents.’

Both were insisting they had Gerrard’s best interests in mind.

But honestly, to my eyes, it just looked like stubbornness to prove that their own methods were right.

‘Normally, I’d just let them sort it out among themselves and walk away…’

But I couldn’t do that now.

I needed the power of this family.

Suppressing the rising disillusionment, I stepped back in to take control.

“From now on, please respond one at a time. If you interrupt me three times, I’ll take it as a sign that you have no intention of conversing with me, and I will leave immediately. That was your first.”

I raised my hand and folded my thumb in a warning gesture.

Once three fingers were folded, the conversation would be over.

Only then did the two finally seem to notice me and fall silent for a moment.

With both quiet, I looked at Judy and answered her earlier question.

“Of course, I’m not helping Gerrard purely out of goodwill.”

For the wealthy, trust is everything.

Lying is off the table.

“I’m currently working on projects in healthcare and AI. I need lobbying support for them, and the Marquis family's political infrastructure seemed like it could be a huge help. So I proposed a mutually beneficial partnership with Gerrard.”

“So, in the end, you used our family. And you plan to keep doing so.”

“Well, that’s not entirely wrong. But I aim for a win-win relationship where both sides use and benefit from each other. I leverage Gerrard’s lobbying power, and he utilizes my algorithm.”

“Our family's lobbying power isn’t some easily acquired resource.”

Judy’s gaze sharpened, but I simply shrugged.

“Neither is my algorithm. To be frank, Gerrard’s resources can be replaced. Mine cannot. In fact, you could say Gerrard benefits more from this arrangement.”

Seeing Judy at a loss for words, I turned to Raymond.

Now it was his turn.

“If you’re the man I know, you must have some reckless scheme in mind. Gerrard shouldn’t be involved in something like that. If he gets tangled in a public scandal, it could damage his inheritance rights.”

I chuckled and nodded.

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that. I don’t plan on making Gerrard cause a nationwide incident.”

“How can I believe that?”

Again, I shrugged.

“Even if something like that is necessary, it’s faster and more effective for me to do it myself than make Gerrard do it.”

Raymond, too, fell silent for a moment.

During that pause, Judy seemed to collect her thoughts and spoke again.

“You’re advising Gerrard to reject the hand offered by his eldest uncle. If Gerrard just proves himself over the next ten years, he’ll be accepted stably and earn the position. Why should my son take this risk and abandon the safer path?”

But then Raymond interrupted again.

“Do you really think Rupert will keep his promise?”

“If he didn’t, you wouldn’t be where you are now. I just want to make sure Gerrard doesn’t get used and thrown away.”

“And I want to help Gerrard escape from that toxic family. Seems we have that in common.”

The conversation once again descended into chaos.

I sighed and raised my hand again.

“That’s the second.”

I folded my index finger along with my thumb, and the two fell quiet.

‘This is starting to feel backwards…’

At first, it felt like I was the one being dragged in for scolding by the parents.

Now, I felt like a teacher trying to mediate a fight between two unruly students.

But that didn’t matter.

What mattered was getting them to acknowledge me as the kingmaker.

“Why take a gamble and abandon the safe route…? That’s something you’ll have to ask Gerrard. He came to me asking for help because he wanted to rise faster. I didn’t push him into this.”

“Do you have a plan?”

“Of course. I plan to leverage external votes.”

According to Gerrard, the family council was divided into four groups.

The eldest uncle, the youngest uncle, the branch family members, and the trust managers.

“I intend to win over the branch families and trust managers first.”

At this, Judy let out a slight scoff.

“That’s impossible. They have no reason to give their votes to an inexperienced Gerrard.”

“I heard Gerrard was appointed interim CEO recently.”

“That was a special circumstance. It was just a temporary measure to manage a specific crisis during a one-year period. There’s no way they’ll let him take the seat permanently.”

“Are you certain?”

“Absolutely. Even I haven’t been convinced yet.”

Just as Raymond was about to cut in again, I raised a hand to stop him.

I couldn’t allow any more interruptions.

This was the moment.

Judy had finally taken the bait I dangled.

I locked eyes with her and continued.

“Then, what if I do convince you? Will you support my plan then?”

“Then I might start to believe there’s a chance.”

“No. Just believing in the possibility isn’t enough.”

I kept my eyes on her and spoke slowly.

“If you’re convinced by my plan, then you must promise your full and absolute cooperation to make it succeed.”

Judy’s brow furrowed deeply.

Raymond wore the same expression.

“You expect me to make that kind of promise?”

“I intend to convince you to make that promise.”

“It’s impossible.”

“You haven’t even heard the plan, and you’re already so sure. I believe it’s entirely possible.”

A smile naturally formed on my lips.

Finally, the setup I’d wanted was complete.

There were only two choices now, and each person stood on one side.

That’s the foundation of any proper bet.

In other words, I had successfully dragged Judy into a wager.

And the next step was simple.

To clearly define the stakes based on the outcome.

“Of course, if your heart isn’t in it, you may refuse. In that case, I will acknowledge that I failed to persuade you and withdraw completely from Gerrard’s affairs. But if I succeed, as I said before, you must promise me unconditional support.”

This was a wager for the one and only kingmaker seat.

I looked at Judy and Raymond in turn and delivered my final line.

“What will it be? Will you hear me out?”