New York, a luxurious villa on Fifth Avenue—this was Sloan's residence.
In the villa's study, the air was thick with the expensive scent of cigar smoke.
Sloan looked at the encrypted telegram in his hand, sent from Philadelphia by Thomson, and a morbid smile appeared on his face.
"Argyle…" He slowly pronounced the name, as if to chew it to pieces between his teeth, "You thought I wouldn't know just because you were hiding in the background? Did you think you won?"
Although he had lost his throne, he still held a sum of cash from that transaction.
That old lion, Vanderbilt, would certainly not give him any chance to return to the company. But he could attack the young man he believed to be the mastermind behind it all.
"Charles," he said to Thorne, his aide who was always by his side, "Go, contact everyone we have at the Exchange. Our old friend, J. Edgar Thomson, has run into a bit of trouble. He needs our help."
Thorne hesitated. "Sir, do we really want to get involved in the Pennsylvania Railroad's messy business? Argyle is targeting it right now."
"Of course, I know," Sloan's eyes burned with a wild flame, "I want to disrupt his plans."
"I can no longer reclaim my Central Railroad," his voice was like that of a wounded beast, "But I will never let that damned Irish boy get the prey he wants so easily!"
He made a decision that was almost insane.
"Starting tomorrow," he instructed Thorne, "regardless of the cost, fully acquire Pennsylvania Railroad shares for me. I don't care about the price, and I don't care about winning or losing. Make Argyle pay double, even triple, the price for every share he buys next!"
"I will use money to burn him alive in this war!"
...The next morning, New York Stock Exchange.
An unexpected earthquake erupted in Pennsylvania Railroad stock.
"Sir!" In Tom Hayes's office, assistant Johnny's voice was filled with shock, "A massive number of buy orders have appeared in the market! It's Sloan! He's back! He's frantically driving up the price!"
Hayes looked at the content on the ticker tape; initially, he felt a bit surprised. But he quickly understood.
"He's not investing, Johnny," Hayes's face showed a smile that only an old hunter would understand, "He's seeking revenge. He's like a gambler who's lost all his chips, ready to flip the entire table in the last hand."
"So what do we do?" Johnny asked anxiously, "If we continue to follow suit, our acquisition costs will skyrocket! This completely disrupts the Boss's plan!"
"No, quite the opposite," Hayes shook his head, "This is when the Boss's plan truly begins."
He picked up his hat and coat.
"Johnny, watch things here," he said, "I need to personally go to Fifth Avenue to report to the Boss."
...Half an hour later, in Felix's study.
After listening to Hayes's detailed description of the sudden market situation, Felix showed no surprise; instead, a smile appeared on his face, as if he had seen his prey willingly walk into a trap.
"Boss," Frost, who was also listening to the report, said with a face full of worry, "Sloan is engaging in malicious, irrational bidding. If we continue to buy, it will play right into his hands."
"Rising?" Felix looked at him and retorted, "Isn't this great? I was worried the price wasn't rising high enough."
"Edward," Felix looked at his intelligent but still somewhat naive assistant, deciding to personally give him a vivid and brutal lesson in capital.
"Sloan thinks he's disrupting my plan, but how could he know this isn't a trap I set? Before, Vanderbilt had his eye on New York Central Railroad, which prevented me from crushing Sloan.
"If he had chosen to enjoy life, I might have let him off, but now it seems he still wants to fight me."
A cold arc formed at the corner of Felix's mouth, "This time, I won't let him off."
He looked at Hayes, "Tom, you're absolutely right. Sloan has lost his mind. So now you need to do a few things."
"First," his voice was calm, "use our Patriot Investment Company's main account to openly compete with Sloan in the market for shares. Make a big show of it, make him and everyone believe that we, like him, have been blinded by anger and are determined to win. But only buy a small amount."
"Like two feuding children, keep pushing the price of this stock up for me. The higher, the better."
"Second," Felix's eyes gleamed with cunning, "At the same time, immediately activate those several completely independent secret trust accounts we registered earlier in Philadelphia and Baltimore, which have no connection to us."
"Use these accounts to slowly sell off, in batches, the shares we acquired earlier at low prices."
"Sell to Sloan?"
"Ha… Exactly! Sell to Mr. Sloan, who is currently buying shares at high prices in the market."
...In the New York Stock Exchange hall, everyone watched as if it were the most exciting drama. The brokers representing Argyle and Sloan, like two bulls with bloodshot eyes, frantically bid for every share of Pennsylvania Railroad.
The stock price soared under their repeated pushes, quickly breaking the unprecedented twelve-dollar mark.
Meanwhile, on the other side, several obscure trust companies from Philadelphia and Baltimore quietly fed large quantities of cheap shares, little by little, to the frantically devouring Sloan.
In Tom Hayes's office, he was looking at two completely different ledgers.
One recorded the holdings of Patriot Investment Company. The average acquisition price on it was constantly being driven up by this insane bidding.
The other recorded the transaction details of those secret trust accounts. The cash profit on it was accumulating at a speed faster than a printing press.
"Using Sloan's money to fight Sloan's war," Hayes said softly, raising a glass of whiskey.
"The Boss's move," he looked out the window at the bustling market being played like a fiddle, "is truly… ruthless."