Sovereign of the Seven Armies

The Hostile Takeover

"Open the doors right now."

Chloe Lin slammed her open palm against the thick glass of the main entrance. The electronic card reader on the wall flashed a bright red error code.

Two heavy corporate security guards stood on the other side of the glass. They crossed their muscular arms over their chests and completely ignored her desperate shouting.

"My access is revoked," Chloe said. Her voice shook with rising panic. "This is my building. I am the chief executive officer."

Ryker Zhao stood right behind her on the concrete steps. He placed a calm warm hand on her trembling shoulder. He did not say a single word yet.

The heavy glass doors finally slid open with a soft mechanical hiss.

Flint Lin walked out into the spacious lobby. He looked incredibly smug.

"You are trespassing on private property," Flint stated coldly. He adjusted his tie. "Take your hands off my doors."

"You locked me out of my own company," Chloe demanded angrily. She stepped right past the security guards. "Grandpa built this logistics firm with his bare hands. He left fifty one percent of the shares directly to me."

Flint laughed loudly. The sound echoed through the massive empty lobby. It was incredibly grating and cruel.

"Your grandfather was a sentimental old fool," Flint mocked openly. "He gave a multi million dollar shipping empire to a naive little girl. You ran it straight into the dirt."

"I went bankrupt paying for my husband's medical bills," Chloe shouted back. "Bills the family trust was legally obligated to cover. You and my mother purposely starved my personal accounts."

Flint smiled a cruel predatory smile.

"Corporate business is about survival of the fittest," Flint said simply. "You chose to waste your operating capital on a dead man. I chose to save the Lin family legacy."

A second man stepped out of the private executive elevator at the far end of the hall.

Sterling Ho adjusted the solid gold watch on his wrist. He was the young ruthless heir to the massive Ho corporate conglomerate. He

Sterling walked across the polished marble lobby and stood right next to Flint.

"Is this the former chief executive?" Sterling asked. He looked Chloe up and down with deep obvious disgust. "She looks like a common street beggar."

Chloe pulled her faded cotton sweater tightly around her thin waist. She felt incredibly small under his highly judgmental gaze.

"Chloe, meet your new boss," Flint gloated happily. "Sterling just bought eighty percent of our company debt. He is officially liquidating every single asset we own."

"You cannot do that," Chloe gasped in horror. The air completely left her lungs. "The coastal shipping contracts belong to my grandfather's estate. The harbor warehouses are in my name. They are not yours to sell."

"They belong to me now," Sterling interrupted coldly. He checked his reflection in the lobby window. "Flint just traded your entire struggling company for a seat on my board of directors. Your little legacy is officially dead."

Chloe felt her knees go completely weak. This building was the very last piece of her grandfather she had left in the world.

She remembered running down these exact halls as a little girl. She remembered her grandfather sitting at the desk. He used to tell her she would run the city ports one day.

Now her own uncle was selling those precious memories for a cheap promotion.

"You sold our family shipping routes," Chloe wept openly. She glared at Flint with pure absolute hatred. "Grandpa bled for those contracts. You are a disgusting traitor."

"I am protecting my own bank account," Flint sneered down at her. "Grow up Chloe. The real world does not care about your tears."

Sterling finally noticed the tall silent man standing right behind Chloe.

Sterling raised a perfectly groomed eyebrow. He let out a loud obnoxious laugh that filled the room.

"Is this the famous dead husband?" Sterling asked loudly. "I heard you woke up from your coma today. The whole financial district is talking about the miracle trash."

Ryker stared straight at Sterling. His dark eyes were completely dead and empty of any human emotion.

"You woke up just in time to be completely homeless," Sterling mocked viciously. "Your wife has absolutely no money left. She cannot even afford to buy you a new wheelchair."

Flint quickly joined in the cruel laughter.

"He is probably starving right now," Flint joked. "Chloe skipped all her meals just to keep a feeding tube in his stomach. What a pathetic waste of her youth."

Ryker took a single step forward.

The polished marble floor seemed to completely crack under the heavy weight of his combat boot.

The laughter died instantly in Sterling's throat. The oppressive terrifying aura radiating from Ryker made the young billionaire take a sudden involuntary step backward.

Sterling quickly recovered his arrogant composure. He hated feeling intimidated by a poor soldier. He reached into his tailored jacket pocket to reassert his dominance.

"Let me do some charity work today," Sterling said arrogantly. He pulled out a leather bound checkbook and a pure gold fountain pen.

He scribbled a random number on the paper and ripped the check roughly from the binding.

Sterling threw the piece of paper directly onto the floor at Chloe's feet.

"That is ten thousand dollars," Sterling sneered. "Take it as your official executive severance package. Go buy your crippled husband some cheap street food."

Chloe stared at the check resting on the cold floor. Her hands were balled into tight shaking fists.

"Pick it up," Flint ordered his niece harshly. "Kneel down and thank Mr Ho for his incredible generosity. Then get off my property before I have my security guards arrest you both."

Chloe did not move a single inch. A fresh tear of humiliation rolled slowly down her cheek.

She felt she had completely failed her beloved grandfather. She had failed to protect his life's work from these greedy monsters.

Ryker stepped directly in front of his wife. He placed his heavy combat boot squarely onto the written check.

He ground the paper violently into the marble floor until it tore into tiny illegible pieces.

Sterling watched the destruction in absolute shock. The arrogant young master turned bright red with explosive uncontrollable fury.

"You stupid crippled dog," Sterling screamed at the top of his lungs. "Do you have any idea how much money I just offered you? I can buy your entire miserable life with my spare pocket change."

Ryker did not raise his voice. His tone was as cold as a frozen open grave.

"You think you have money," Ryker stated calmly. "You think you can buy my wife's legacy for pennies."

"I already bought it," Sterling spat back angrily. "I own this entire building. I own the logistics fleet. You are currently standing on my floor."

Ryker reached slowly into the inside pocket of his crisp white dress shirt.

"You own absolutely nothing," Ryker said.

He pulled out a solid rectangular card. He held it up between his index and middle fingers for both men to see clearly.

The massive lobby fell completely silent.

The card was not made of cheap bank plastic. It was forged from pure heavy military grade titanium. The entire surface was a pitch black matte finish that seemed to absorb all the light in the room.

The edges of the heavy card were lined with perfectly cut raw diamonds. The center bore a single raised crest of a nine clawed dragon holding the globe in its talons.

It was the World Bank Sovereign Card.

There were only five of these legendary cards in existence on the entire planet. They possessed absolutely no spending limit whatsoever. A single swipe could bankrupt small countries or purchase entire global conglomerates completely outright.

Flint stared blindly at the card. His eyes bulged out of his head. He had worked in high level corporate finance for thirty years but he had never seen anything like this artifact.

Sterling suddenly stopped breathing. He recognized the mythical black card from private wealth seminars hosted by the global elite.

"That is impossible," Sterling stammered in fear. His arrogant voice completely cracked. "That is a fake piece of metal. You are just an unemployed soldier."

Ryker gripped the diamond edged card tightly. The cold dark promise of total absolute financial ruin flashed in his dark eyes.

"Let me show you what real wealth looks like."