Ron Donaldo: Rise Of The Apex Don

Chapter 19

Several board members stood up. They ran toward the heavy oak doors. They wanted to escape. They wanted to sell their stock and run away before the ship sank completely. 

"Sit down!" Marcus roared. "I am the CEO! I command you to sit down!"

But no one listened. They were opening the doors. 

Suddenly, a loud, sharp sound echoed through the room. 

BZZZZZT.

Every single television screen in the boardroom turned on at exactly the same time. The large projector screen at the front of the room dropped down from the ceiling. The lights in the room flickered and turned dark red. 

The board members stopped at the door. They turned around, staring at the screens in shock. 

The screens did not show a news channel. They showed a dark, stone room. It looked like an old subway terminal. 

Sitting in the center of the dark screen, behind a simple metal desk, was Ron Donaldo. 

He was not wearing his gray prison suit anymore. He was wearing a sharp, custom-made black suit. His white shirt was unbuttoned at the top. He looked powerful, calm, and utterly terrifying. He looked like a king sitting on a dark throne. 

Standing behind him in the shadows was a giant man with a scarred face and an eye patch—General Silas Vance. 

"Good morning, Board of Directors," Ron’s deep, smooth voice echoed from the speakers. 

Nobody moved. Nobody breathed. 

"Turn it off!" Marcus yelled at David. "He hacked our system again! Unplug the screens!"

David ran to the wall and pulled the power cord. The screen did not turn off. It kept glowing. 

"You cannot unplug me, Marcus," Ron said softly. He smiled a cold, dangerous smile. "My team controls your building’s entire mainframe. I can see you. I can hear you. You look very stressed. Did you lose something important last night?"

Marcus walked slowly toward the large screen. His hands were curled into tight fists. "You stole my property, Ron. That lithium belongs to Sterling Tech."

Ron laughed. It was a dark, rumbling sound. "I did not steal anything. I simply bought it. I bought the Sea Dragon shipment from Blackwater before they even knew what hit them. And then I bought the rest of the market. It is called free enterprise, Marcus. You taught me that."

"You used dirty mob money!" Theresa shouted from the back of the room. "You are a criminal!"

Ron’s cold blue eyes shifted slightly. He looked directly at the camera, aiming his gaze straight at Theresa. 

"I learned from the best, Theresa," Ron said smoothly. "You stole my company. You stole my blueprints. You stole my life. You built your entire fake empire on my genius. But a castle built on lies will always fall when the real King returns."

Ron leaned forward on his metal desk. He folded his hands together. 

"You have no lithium," Ron said. His voice was low and serious. "In exactly two hours, the government inspectors will walk into your factory. They will see empty lines. They will see no engines. They will cancel the two-billion-dollar contract. Your stock will crash to zero. The banks will take your building, your cars, and your homes."

Mr. Henderson began to cry. A grown man, sobbing in his expensive suit. "Please, Mr. Donaldo," Henderson begged the screen. "Please. We did not know what Marcus did to you. Do not destroy us. We will pay you. We will buy the lithium from you! Name your price!"

Marcus spun around. "Do not beg him! He is an ex-con!"

Ron watched the panic. He enjoyed it. He had spent five years in a dark, cold cell thinking about this exact moment. He remembered the bad food, the beatings, the long, lonely nights. Now, the people who put him there were crying like children. 

"I am not going to sell you the lithium, Mr. Henderson," Ron said calmly. "Because I do not want your money. Money is just paper. I want justice."

Ron looked back at Marcus. 

"But," Ron continued, "I am a fair man. I will give you one chance to save your company, Marcus."

Marcus stopped breathing. He looked at the screen. "What do you want?"

Ron’s eyes turned hard like ice. "I want a confession. A full, public confession. I want you and Theresa to stand in front of the news cameras. I want you to admit that you stole my company. I want you to admit that you paid the Police Chief to frame me. I want you to admit every single lie."

Theresa shook her head violently. "No! If we do that, we will go to prison for twenty years!"

"Yes," Ron said simply. "You will go to prison. And you will find out exactly what The Pit feels like. If you do this, I will give the lithium back to the Board of Directors. The company will survive. The innocent workers will keep their jobs. But you two will lose everything."

Marcus stared at the screen. His mind was racing. He could not go to prison. He was soft. He liked fine wine and soft beds. He would not survive one week in Sector 4. 

"And if we say no?" Marcus whispered. 

Ron smiled his terrifying smile again. 

"If you say no," Ron said slowly, "I will let the company die at noon. But I will not stop there. I have the files, Marcus. I have the bank records showing you bribed the Mayor. I have the records showing you worked with The Director. I will release all of it to the FBI. You will go to prison anyway. But you will go as a completely broke, ruined man."

Ron leaned back in his chair. 

"You have exactly one hour to decide," Ron said. "Tick tock, Marcus."