Alex spent the next week preparing for Yamamoto's visit. Coordinating with Victor. Briefing Marcus. Managing board concerns. But he also studied New Meridian. Researched Franklin Zhao. Reviewed Chen Global's banking operations. Identified vulnerabilities. The banking division was a mess. Loans to shell companies. Suspicious transactions. Regulatory warnings ignored. Franklin Zhao had been running it for eight years. Either incompetent or corrupt. Hard to tell which was worse. Alex called him directly. "Franklin Zhao." "Mr. Zhao. This is Alexander Chen. We need to talk." Silence. Then: "About?" "About New Meridian. About Chen Global Banking. About your future with the company."<

Alex spent his first week in New Meridian buried in documents. Financial records. Transaction logs. Email trails. Building a case against Franklin. He assembled a team. External auditors. Independent investigators. People Franklin didn't control. The evidence mounted quickly. Loans to connected parties: Thirty instances in two years. Below-market rates costing Chen Global millions in lost revenue. Suspicious offshore transfers: Fifty-seven transactions. Money flowing to Cayman Islands. British Virgin Islands. Untraceable destinations. Regulatory violations: Multiple instances of late reporting. Incomplete disclosures. Technical non-compliance. Individually, each was explainable. Defensible.<

Alex met Victor at 6 AM Monday. Location: Abandoned warehouse on the edge of New Meridian. Industrial district. No surveillance. No witnesses. Victor was already there. Laptop open. Files spread across a makeshift table. "You're punctual. Good." "You said you have evidence against Al-Rahman." "Twenty years worth. But first, understand what you're dealing with." Victor pulled up organizational charts. "Al-Rahman Dynasty. Founded 1847. Originally Ottoman real estate holders. Expanded globally. Now control: property development, infrastructure, construction, urban planning. Own partial stakes in thirty-seven major cities. Buildings. Roads. Utilities. Everything." "How is that legal?" "It's not. Not entirely. But they operate through hundreds of shell compani

Alex spent his first week as heir-apparent restructuring Chen Global. New policies. New oversight. New standards. Every division audited. Every executive reviewed. Every operation scrutinized. No more corruption. No more shortcuts. No more looking away. The board was nervous. "You're moving too fast," Harrison warned. "Change this aggressive creates instability." "Stability built on corruption isn't stability. It's a time bomb. I'm defusing it." Helen supported him cautiously. "I agree with the direction. But Alex, twenty percent turnover in two weeks? That's unprecedented. People are scared." "Good. Fear of consequences prevents future corruption. That's the point." By Friday, Alex had replaced thirty-seven executives. Promoted young