The legal team spent three days untangling Holt's claim, and by the end of it Ivy understood exactly how carefully he'd built his position, buying Ashford Transit specifically because its existing contracts overlapped, on paper, with the exact regional corridor Vane Corp's Singapore expansion required.

"It's a manufactured conflict," the lead attorney explained, spreading maps and contract language across Sterling's office table with weary precision. "Real on paper, meaningless in practice, but enough to trigger a legitimate court review that could delay your expansion for months while it gets sorted out."

"Months we don't have," Sterling said, jaw tight. "The Singapore partnership has its own timeline pressures. If this drags...