Chapter 6 - The Missing Asset
The federal prosecutor slammed the tablet down onto the metal table, the screen illuminating Julian’s terrified, sweating face. The headline blared in bold red letters: VANCE GLOBAL STOCK CRASHES 82% AFTER UNKNOWN ENTITY FLOODS MARKET WITH SHORT POSITIONS.
Julian snatched the tablet, his eyes scanning the cascading numbers with sheer disbelief. Billions of dollars in market capitalization were evaporating into thin air by the second. Trading had been forcibly halted on the New York Stock Exchange, but the damage was irreversible. Whoever held the remaining hidden shares of Berlinsky Holdings had just executed a devastating short squeeze, completely wiping out Julian’s leveraged capital reserves.
"Who did this?" Julian hissed, looking up at Marcus with genuine panic in his eyes. "No one outside the inner circle had access to those leverage keys!"
Marcus calmly picked up the tablet, locking the screen with a single tap. "You forgot one crucial detail, Julian. When you framed Genevieve and locked her out of the corporate mainframe, you assumed she was just a helpless society wife. You never bothered to check her personal research division—the quantum encryption lab she funded independently under her mother’s maiden name."
Julian stumbled backward, his chair scraping loudly against the concrete floor. "That’s impossible... her lab was sealed by court order a month ago!"
"Court orders can be overridden when federal agents discover active treason and corporate espionage," Marcus replied smoothly, standing up and buttoning his uniform jacket. "And right now, federal marshals are executing a search warrant at Chloe Sullivan’s penthouse, where they are currently unearthing the physical master drive containing every single transaction you tried to bury."
At the mention of Chloe, Julian’s breath caught. For all his ruthless ambition, his relationship with Chloe was built entirely on mutual greed and fragile alliances. He knew that the moment Chloe realized she was going down alone, she would sing like a canary to save her own skin.
"Wait," Julian stammered, grabbing the edge of the table as Marcus turned toward the door. "I'll sign the confession. I'll give you everything on Chloe. Just... keep me out of maximum security."
Marcus paused at the threshold, turning his head slightly. His intense blue eyes locked onto Julian with a chilling lack of sympathy. "You should have thought about maximum security the day you put an innocent woman in handcuffs, Julian. Your signature on that paper doesn't buy you freedom; it just buys you a front-row seat to your own corporate execution."
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As the heavy steel door slammed shut behind Marcus, leaving Julian alone in the flickering fluorescent light, the wall-mounted emergency speaker suddenly crackled back to life. A digitized voice announced an incoming priority call from the federal penitentiary housing Genevieve—and the caller ID showed it was originating directly from the warden’s private office.
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