THE BILLIONAIRE'S TINY JUDGE

At 9:00 AM the next morning, the board of directors convened in an emergency executive session called by Jonathan Sterling. The room was filled with nervous energy; several older board members looked anxious, while Jonathan sat with a smug, calculated composure.

The heavy glass doors swung open, and Julian walked in, followed closely by Marcus and two forensic accountants carrying leather briefcases.

"Julian," Jonathan began smoothly, standing up to take control of the floor. "We called this session under Section 14 of the bylaws to address your unauthorized public statements yesterday and the unauthorized deployment of company assets to private endowments."

Julian did not sit down. He gestured to the accountants, who placed three thick bound folders in front of each board member.

"Before we discuss my actions," Julian said, his tone razor-sharp, "let us discuss yours, Jonathan."

Jonathan frowned. "What is this?"

"Those are transaction logs from a shell company registered in the Cayman Islands called Horizon Capital," Julian explained, pacing slowly along the side of the table. "Over the last forty-eight hours, Horizon Capital shorted four hundred thousand shares of Vance Global. The IP addresses used to execute those trades originated from this very boardroom—specifically, from your terminal, Jonathan."

A collective gasp rippled through the board members. Jonathan’s face lost all color.

"That's... that's an administrative error," Jonathan stammered, backing away from the table. "You can't prove I authorized those trades."

"We don't need to," Marcus spoke up from the doorway, holding up a digital tablet. "Arthur Pendelton was detained by federal securities investigators twenty minutes ago at JFK Airport trying to board a flight to Zurich. He is currently cooperating with the SEC and has provided the full email chain outlining your plan to manufacture a corporate crisis."

Julian stopped right behind Jonathan’s chair, leaning down until his voice was a cold whisper near Jonathan’s ear.