Chapter 8 - The Ultimatum
Bradley’s face filled the small smartphone screen, distorted by poor lighting and panic. Behind him, the blurred neon lights of downtown Los Angeles streaked past at high speeds.
"Maddie! Where the hell are you?" Bradley hissed, his usual polished veneer completely shattered. "Sterling’s fixers are looking for you. They know you downloaded the master archive. If you release those files, you won't just ruin me—you'll be signing your own death warrant. They play dirty, Maddie. Real dirty."
Maddie leaned into the frame, her face lit by the cold blue glow of Chloe’s monitors. "You should have thought about that before you sold our company out from under me, Bradley. Your panic is music to my ears."
"Listen to me!" Bradley shouted, his voice cracking with desperation. "Sterling is hosting an emergency board meeting at his penthouse in Century City in two hours. He wants to cut a deal. He wants you there to sign a nondisclosure agreement in exchange for a cash payout and safe passage out of the country."
Chloe muttered an obscenity under her breath, shaking her head vigorously. "It’s a trap, Maddie. A payout means a permanent NDA and a one-way ticket to complete legal subjugation. Don't walk into that penthouse."
"What’s the alternative, Chloe?" Maddie asked without breaking eye contact with the phone screen. "If we dump the files without confronting them directly, Sterling’s legal machine will tie us up in federal court for a decade while we're hunted by his fixers."
"She's right," Leo interjected, typing furiously on a side terminal. "Sterling’s security network is currently pinging our IP address right now. They know we're in this building. We have less than twenty minutes before physical backup arrives."
On the screen, Bradley leaned closer to his camera, his eyes wide with pleading madness. "Please, Maddie. Just come to the penthouse. Bring the original flash drive. We can split the offshore accounts and leave this whole mess behind. Please."
Maddie stared at her husband—a man she had loved, trusted, and built an empire with—and saw only a hollow shell of greed. She slowly reached out, her finger hovering over the end-call button.
"Tell Victor Sterling," Maddie said softly, "that I’ll be there in person. And I'm bringing my own audience."
May you like
She slammed her finger down, cutting the feed instantly, leaving Bradley screaming into a dead line.
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