Bitcoin Billionaire: I Regressed to Invest in the First Bitcoin!-Chapter 187: Trendteller in Trouble

It was well orchestrated from Ryan’s part. After the Delverate plan backfired, he had retreated to this more straightforward and yet, brutal attack.

All he needed was Gillian Henderson to keep them busy, keep their focus on something else. Grant Hayes.

Then, he attacked using his power over the market, causing a distribution blockage on Trendteller to its buyers.

He did this by targeting automated backend services, not public-facing ones.

It was a smart move. Ryan didn’t attack the code or marketing. Rather, he attacked:

API licensing keys (used by distributors to roll out Trendteller to clients), payment channels tied to rollout stages, and digital authorization nodes that rely on third-party validation to deploy updates

By triggering "pending dispute" flags in shared legal metadata, those systems automatically blocked new shipments and trials— just like a credit freeze.

Of course Ryan wouldn’t have been able to do this without his control over distribution channels in Los Alverez as he managed many of them, but those wealthy people would never notice him using their resources to help his cause.

They never did.

Now in the office, Rachel showed Darren the email from one of their distributors:

"Until our legal team confirms IP parity and payout continuity, we must temporarily freeze Trendteller’s digital access nodes under Clause 4.7 of the Asset Sharehold Regulation Agreement. Standard freeze time: 14 days minimum."

Darren looked at the message with an impassive expression. A normal 21 year old would have melted from all this pressure of managing a company. But Darren was determined to succeed.

Yet, there were more problems.

BREAKING: "Steele Investments Faces Systemic Review Over Trendteller Licensing Irregularities."

The screen showed that a whistleblower had been implemented on Darren’s product too, and now they would have to face multiple judges with the likelihood of the product being taken off the market, and him losing millions upon millions.

"It’s a strangulation of flow," Sandy, who was now involved in this because finance was now in play, spoke up. "We can’t ship new code modules. Our automated trial licenses are bouncing back. And finance can’t clear payments to mid-tier vendors."

"Which makes us look unstable," Rachel added. "We’re not failing... but they’re freezing our arms mid-swing."

"Trendteller is tanking," she confirmed softly, standing beside him. "Sales are dipping. Two mid-tier chains pulled out this morning. A third just requested a full refund."

Darren paced once, twice, then stopped.

"This was never about Trendteller being flawed. Ryan is changing the perception. He wants our buyers to believe that we can’t deliver."

Sandy’s tone sharpened. "And they’re likely not going to purchase anything anytime soon. They’ll wait to see if we collapse before placing more orders."

Darren turned to Rachel. "Do you still have it?"

Rachel nodded at him knowingly. She knew exactly what he was talking about.

Unfortunately for Ryan, he had forgotten one thing.

When he sent Amelia to Darren’s home, handing her a list of threats with the things he could do if he did not submit, Amelia had never returned the list.

She had given it to Rachel when she joined the team.

And under Darren’s orders, what did Rachel do?

She created a complete rebuttal and defence against every one of the threats in case Ryan used them in the future.

And amongst those threats were Asset Distribution Blockage.

Even though fixing the licensing issue was going to be harder, when it came to the distribution blockage, Rachel knew exactly what to do.

David nodded his head at the both of them— Rachel and Sandy. "I’m entrusting this in your hands. Please don’t let me down."

Then he turned to leave. "I’ll deal with the licensing and I’ll find Grant Hayes. But I promise that after this, this pest, Ryan Anders, will no longer be a problem to us."

He left and entered the war room, switching into a fiercer character.

"Alright," Darren said quietly, then louder: "Vance. Daisy. We proceed with our counterstrike. The human rights filing goes out today."

Daisy nodded. "It’ll be submitted under Steele Investments as an affiliated investigative entity. It legally accuses Golden Hay of hostile restructuring, forced executive detainment, and corporate suppression."

"And Miranda," Darren said, turning to her. "We need an outside stabilizer."

Miranda Sloane was butting in for Kara who was really busy in the Bitcoin Operation room as of late.

She blinked. "You want press?"

"Yes," Darren said, then he thought of it for a while. "I have a... friend you can call"

He wrote down the number and Miranda got to work immediately.

As for Daisy and Vance, they prepared the files and got ready to go to court.

"I’m confused, maam! Why am I here?"

"Shut up."

Marilyn entered the room with a junior accounting stagger who had accessed internal Trendteller valuation files last week.

"Here she is sir," Marilyn said. ’Her name is Harper Dell.’

Darren slowly walked to her, hands in his pockets. "Were we not paying you enough here?"

"Sir, you are..." Harper’s eyes quivered. "I don’t know what this is about."

"You leaked internal files," Darren said calmly, "to a fake firm operated by our rival."

"That’s not— I... I didn’t know!" she stuttered. "He said it was anonymous. He said I’d just be helping with internal transparency."

"Marilyn?" Darren called.

The woman stepped forward and smacked Harper so hard her face almost fell off.

"He paid you," Darren said after, still calm like nothing had happened. "Eighty thousand. An offshore transfer. Did you really think we wouldn’t find out?"

Harper broke, nose leaking. She fell down to her knees as tears rolled down her cheeks. "I didn’t mean to hurt the company."

"You didn’t just hurt the company, you miserable imbecile," Darren said, stepping closer. "You hurt someone else."

He stared at her.

"You gave ammunition to the same man who locked an eighteen-year-old in a room for trying to run his father’s company."

She froze.

Darren lowered his head, his gaze locked with hers. Dark. Terrifying. "I’m going to ruin your life."

----------

While this was happening, the ultimate checkmate was going on inside Golden Hay HQ.

Gillian Henderson stood before a drawn map of the casino portfolio, smiling as he knew he had gotten what he wanted.

Beside him stood Charles Wynne, the family’s longtime legal hawk.

The company’s lawyers were gathered around, including the other board members.

"The vote is in," Vector Callahan declared. "Franchise gains 82% operational control of the casino division. Donald’s name will appear on the press release. Yours stays behind the curtain."

Gillian grinned like the devil. "Perfect."

As the board celebrated, sharing the rest of the assets, Vector walked to Gillian and whispered in his ear.

"Have you taken care of the boy millionaire? Darren Steele."

Gillian smirked. "He’s too busy being dragged into court to know where to swing next. It’s over, Vector. We won."

Vector smiled wryly. "Yes. You’re right. We won."

-------------

Back at Steele Complex, the legal motion was ready.

Daisy had it queued for the court... and the media.

After getting a call from Miranda Sloane, saying that Darren Steele needed her help, the blonde beauty and brash boldness, Brooklyn Baker was back.

She and Darren sat by a table, going through the story she had written. It had been a while since they had been together like this and they spent a short time catching up, though Darren quickly wanted to get to the business.

Once they were done going through it, he asked her to upload it.

"You’re sure?" she asked Darren.

He looked at the headline still rotating on the screen.

"Trendteller Faces Collapse?"

He nodded once. "Send it."

"Alright then." She pressed enter.

Darren took a sigh and sat back. "Now we wait."

Within hours, it was everywhere:

"Golden Hay Accused of Silencing Its Heir."

"War Between Investment Giant and Casino Empire Heats Up."

"Where is Grant Hayes?"

Steele’s stocks, which had begun slipping, stabilized. Blogs began questioning the source of the leaked Trendteller report— some suspecting "a rival tech group with political motives."

Brooklyn’s new press team posted various copies and snippets on her numerous accounts in multiple platforms, not excluding CryptoTracker.

And slowly, the public opinion was on Darren’s side and the disappearance of Grant Hayes was now a question everyone was asking.

Where was the heir of Golden Hay?!

Brooklyn looked at Darren with a proud smile. "You’re in."