Chapter 7 - The Vulture’s PriceIt took my private security team exactly four hours to trace the origin of the federal push.
Victor had not acted alone. He had sold the forged documents to a corporate raider named Marcus Sterling. Marcus was a billionaire hedge-fund manager known as "The Vulture." He made his fortune by finding vulnerable companies, backing them into legal corners, and stripping them down for parts.
My newly reformed philanthropic trust was worth billions in untouched real estate. Marcus wanted it. And he was using the mother of my child as a hostage to get it.
I did not arrange a meeting through lawyers. I did not send an email.
At exactly 9:00 PM, I walked past the terrified security guards at the Sterling Equities headquarters in downtown Chicago, kicked open the heavy mahogany doors of Marcus’s executive boardroom, and walked in.
Marcus was sitting at the head of the table, sipping a glass of scotch. He was a man in his late fifties with slicked-back silver hair and the smug, untouchable aura of a man who believed money made him a god.
He smiled as I approached. "I wondered how long it would take you to kick my door down. Have a seat."
"I am not here to sit, Marcus," I said, stopping inches from him. I planted both hands on the polished wood of his desk, leaning in until he was forced to look up at me. "Withdraw the forged evidence against Elena. Now."
Marcus chuckled, taking a slow sip of his scotch. "I’m afraid I can't do that. You see, the District Attorney is very interested in those offshore accounts. Of course, I could conveniently 'discover' a forensic error in the metadata that proves the signatures were forged. The DA would drop the case immediately."
"And your price?" I asked, every muscle in my body coiled tight.
"Sign over the controlling shares of your real estate trust to my holding company," Marcus said casually. "All of it. You walk away with nothing, but your lovely Elena stays out of a federal penitentiary. It’s a generous offer for a man who claims to have changed his priorities."
I stared at him. He thought he had me cornered. He thought I was just a desperate family man. He had completely forgotten the man I used to be.
"You think you hold the cards, Marcus?" I whispered, my voice dropping to a terrifying, lethal pitch. "You are playing a game of corporate extortion. But I do not play games. I end them."
"Are you threatening me?" Marcus sneered, though a flicker of genuine fear finally crossed his eyes. "If anything happens to me, those files go directly to the grand jury. Elena will be arrested by sunrise."
"I won't lay a finger on you," I promised smoothly. "But by tomorrow morning, I will unleash every single piece of dirt, every buried scandal, and every dark secret your firm has ever tried to hide. I will bankrupt you. I will ruin your name. I will make you a ghost in this city."
I turned and walked out of the boardroom, leaving Marcus sitting in a sudden, suffocating silence.
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As I rode the elevator down to the lobby, my mind was racing, calculating the ruthless, illegal maneuvers I would have to execute to destroy him before he could destroy Elena. I was ready to cross every line I had sworn never to cross again.
I was ready to burn the world down to keep her safe.
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