Chapter 18 - The Titanium GambitTo completely destroy a man who operates in the shadows, you must let him believe he has extinguished your light.
For the next three weeks, Sullivan Contracting operated on pure, high-stakes adrenaline. To the outside world, we were frantically struggling to meet the Aspen deadline. We publicly accepted the massive shipment of compromised steel from Reginald’s newly acquired foundry.
But in the dead of night, a fleet of unmarked, heavy-duty transport trucks diverted the brittle steel to a secure, climate-controlled federal testing facility in Nevada. In its place, a fortune in ultra-light, hyper-durable German aerospace titanium was quietly integrated into the mountainside foundation of The Pinnacle.
Reginald was completely blind to the switch. He was too busy gloating to his Wall Street sycophants.
"He’s taking the bait," Jack murmured to me one evening. We were standing on the edge of the Aspen construction site, the freezing wind whipping around us. Jack wrapped his thick shearling coat around my shoulders, pulling me flush against his solid chest.
Below us, the foundation of The Pinnacle was complete. It was a breathtaking, aggressive matrix of titanium that anchored the future resort directly into the bedrock of the mountain. It was virtually indestructible.
"Reginald just RSVP'd to the groundbreaking gala tomorrow night," I noted, looking down at my encrypted tablet. "He’s bringing a team of 'independent' structural inspectors and a crew from Bloomberg News. He’s planning to publicly halt our construction, claiming he received an anonymous tip that our steel is dangerously substandard."
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"He’s going to use the media to publicly execute my reputation," Jack growled, his arms tightening protectively around my waist.
"He can try," I whispered, leaning back against his chest, looking out at the endless, snow-capped horizon. "But tomorrow night, Reginald is going to learn the difference between old money and absolute power."
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