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Chapter 101 — No Points for This
"I like you," she insisted. "The old Ethan was sweet, but this version of you... you dominate every room you walk into. It makes me want to submit to you completely."Ethan gripped her waist tightly. "If I take you back into my bed, it's not going to be like the old days. There is no romance here. You are here to earn my forgiveness, and it will not be cheap.""I don't care," Sophia breathed, leaning into his touch. "Do whatever you want to me. Just don't kick me out tonight.""You really are desperate," Ethan murmured, scanning her face. His system interface flashed in his vision, confirming her deep regret and total submission. "Fine. Let's see how much you really regret it."He pulled her into a hard kiss, his teeth nipping her lip. Sophia moaned, pressing her slim body against him. He walked her backward into the bedroom and shoved her onto the king bed.He stripped her quickly, tossing her clothes aside. Sophia reached for his belt, her fingers trembling as she helped him undress
Chapter 100: What's Left
She texted at 9:47 PM on a Thursday.“Can I come over? I know it's late. I need to talk to you.”Ethan was at his kitchen counter eating takeout and looking at the fraud timeline for Amanda Torres. He read the text twice, put his phone face-down, and went back to the paperwork.He picked the phone back up.“Yes.”She arrived forty minutes later. He opened the door, and Sophia Chen stood in the hallway. Her coat was unbuttoned, her hair was messy, and she wore no makeup. He had never seen her look so plain and tired."I didn't know where else to go," she said."Come in."She walked past him into the living room and stopped, looking at his whiteboard. It was turned to the blank side, but she stared at it anyway.He poured two glasses of water and handed her one. She set it down without drinking."My father," she said, her voice shaking slightly. "He lost the Astoria financing. The whole deal collapsed last week. The partners pulled out, the bank called in the loan early, and his city co
Chapter 99: Amanda Shows Her Hand
The offer came in on a Tuesday.Murphy found it in his personal email and brought a printout to Ethan’s office at 9:04 AM. It was a job offer from Pinnacle Talent Group for a senior analyst role at Meridian Capital. The pay was $385,000 base, plus 18% carry and a signing bonus. It was a massive amount of money for Murphy."I've never used that email for anything fund-related," Murphy said, crossing his arms. "Not once. So how did they get it?""Pinnacle Talent Group is just a front," Ethan replied, setting the paper down. "Someone built it a few months ago just to make offers like this. Amanda Torres is trying to pull people from my team. Have you replied?""No," Murphy said. "I came straight here."Ethan stood up. "Wait in the conference room. Don't touch that email yet."Ethan called his assistant, Carmen. "Amanda Torres just tried to poach Murphy through a shell company. Document everything—the email headers, the incorporation filings, and the link to Meridian.""On it," Carmen sai
Chapter 98: Amanda Torres Circles
The call from Henry Castellano lasted eleven minutes. Ethan recorded it from the first ring—a reflex he had installed months ago on his personal line. He played it back twice that afternoon in the empty conference room with the door shut and the volume low. Castellano’s voice was unhurried and precise, the voice of a man who hadn't been rushed in thirty years."Mr. Hayes," Castellano said on the tape. "I think it's time we had a direct conversation."The conversation itself had been careful. Both of them circled, neither landing a blow. Castellano confirmed what Ethan already suspected: he hadn't known about the Yates-Julian scheme until the enforcement packets surfaced. He had called to take stock, to understand what Ethan actually had and what he intended to do with it.Ethan kept his answers short and his offers vague. They agreed to meet again. That was all.The call was a win. Ethan wrote the word in his notebook and underlined it twice before moving on.The Amanda Torres file wa
Chapter 97: The Day After
Ethan slept four hours and woke up before his alarm.The morning light was flat and grey. The city outside looked exactly the same as it had yesterday. Ethan found that comforting.He made coffee and read the overnight financial blogs. Three of them had noticed the weird behavior in the markets—the sudden spike in forced selling that hit nothing, caused no real downward pressure, and vanished within ninety minutes. Two blogs were just confused. One called it a "structural irregularity." None of them knew the whole story yet.They would soon.Carmen had already received two callbacks. One was from the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, and the other was from an Assistant U.S. Attorney at the Southern District. Both calls were just preliminary, but they came fast. That meant the package Ethan sent had landed with people who knew exactly how to read it.Ethan texted Carmen: “How do you want to handle the callbacks?”She replied instantly: “I handle them. You stay quiet for the next seventy-t
Chapter 96: What He Built
Victoria sent the file at 6:14 AM. Carmen called him fifteen minutes later."I have it," Carmen said, her voice crisp over the speaker. "The vendor record is real. It links Julian Ashford’s corporate accounts straight to the Wyoming agent that filed Peralta’s ownership papers. This is the smoking gun, Ethan. It proves Julian is behind the shell company.""Is it enough?" Ethan asked."More than enough for a federal referral. Combined with the Reyes files, the fake short interest report, and Whitfield’s statement, the SEC and the Southern District will have everything they need. But it won't stop the debt conversion tonight. That triggers automatically by contract. I can try for an emergency court order, but getting a judge to sign off in twenty-four hours is almost impossible.""We don't need to stop it," Ethan said calmly.Carmen paused. "You want to let it hit?""Yes. I want it to fire against a position that doesn't exist anymore. When Yates triggers the conversion, nothing will mov
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