2026-05-20 10:57:22Erick kept the board members in the room. No one dared stand up while he slowly reviewed the financial documents in front of him.
At the head of the table, Erick casually unwrapped a $3 egg and cheese sandwich from the corner store, his worn jacket sleeves brushing the mahogany. He took slow bites, watching them squirm. Erick looked at Marcus. “The two-hundred-million-dollar emergency facility to Laurent Corp. Approve or kill it?” Marcus froze mid-breath. "Q-Quade... market stability-wise... The Laurent Group holds major city infrastructure contracts. If they …" "They're parasitic thieves," Erick corrected flatly. Before the trembling billionaire could stammer a reply, the heavy doors opened. Aria entered with an encrypted satellite phone. "Chairman," she said, voice perfectly cold. "Congressman Clarke has been calling all day,” Aria said. “He knows someone hit the FBI backdoor through GD Tech. He’s panicking. "Tell the Congressman I'm unavailable," Erick said, sipping tap water from a paper cup. "He can wait. Future Secretaries should learn patience." The board didn’t say a word. Michel Laurent's foolish $200 million heist not only put his family at risk but also provided Erick with a significant advantage over the U.S. government. The Laurents wouldn't go bankrupt overnight (too many physical assets), but their prestige? Credit? Freedom? Erick would reduce their legacy to a joke. Then his cracked $50 smartphone vibrated violently. The board jumped at the sharp buzz. Erick pulled it out, saw Dominique's caller ID flashing. He answered and placed it face-up on the table. "Erick, where are you?" Dominique's voice sliced through the silence—sharp, toxic, disgusted. "I've called thirty times." No one dared to make a move. "A bit busy, Dominique," Erick answered calmly. He scanned the pale, sweating faces of New York's financial elite. "At the pound." Someone choked on silence. Erick raised one finger. Marcus sealed his lips. "The pound?" Dominique sneered, oblivious. "Figures. Listen—Vanessa's divorce party is tonight at Horizon Lounge. Be there by 8 sharp. Wear something that doesn’t embarrass me." "I'll see what's clean," Erick muttered. "There's a pre-gala meeting with the inner circle," she snapped. "And Erick? Martin's father pulled DoD strings. He'll attend despite your little stunt. The first thing you do is kneel and apologize. Understood?" Erick stared at the satellite phone where a future Secretary of State begged for attention, then back at his wife's call. "Martin will get what he deserves tonight." "Good. Don't be late." The line died. Erick pocketed the phone and leaned back in his leather chair. A dark smile returned as he watched the board tremble. The wall clock read 4 PM. Four hours until Dominique's party. "Gentlemen," Erick said, voice dropping to annihilation-level calm. "It's 4 PM. You have until 1 AM to unanimously vote down Victor's bailout and revoke his shares. Any hesitation, any 'no' votes... you're not just fired. “By tomorrow, your accounts are frozen. Assets seized. Investigations begin for crimes you didn’t commit.” He paused. “And your names become examples.” He paused, letting that sink in before leaning forward with lethal eye contact. "So choose carefully before midnight," Erick whispered dangerously. "Who wants to see what happens to your wealth when I flip the switch?" When he didn’t hear another word, he stood up. The chair scraped loudly against the marble floor. Erick walked toward the door. Before leaving, he stopped and looked back at the stunned board members. “One more thing. If any of you leak what happened in this room today… I will know. And I will not be as forgiving as I was five years ago.” The silence that followed him out of the boardroom was heavier than any insult he had endured in the storage room. *** Erick walked down the executive hallway. His footsteps echoed on the marble floor. The assistants froze as he passed, then looked down, afraid to meet his eyes. He stepped into the elevator. The doors closed. In the lobby, Clara stood behind the reception desk. Her face was pale. Her hands shook over the keyboard. Erick walked past her without looking or smiling. Clara let out a shaky breath of relief she couldn't hide. Outside, the cold Manhattan afternoon air hit his face. Ivan was waiting in the black car parked by the curb. Erick got in the backseat. The car pulled away before the door fully closed. "Pretty quick for an emergency meeting," Ivan said, hands on the wheel, eyes on the road. "I assume you didn't kill anyone." "Not yet." Ivan smirked. "Laurent Corp is funneling money into our system," Erick said flatly. "Victor's treating my company like his personal ATM." Ivan whistled softly. "Bold. Stupid, but bold." "Start small," Erick tapped the armrest. "Freeze their side accounts. Slow their shipments. Make their investors sweat. But keep it untraceable for now." Ivan nodded."What about the gala?" Erick stared at the skyline. The buildings stood like chess pieces. "Let them party. Let Michel pretend he matters. My wife deserves a man like Martin." Ivan coughed. "Clarke's spot tonight. Horizon Lounge." "Martin's been there three times this month," Ivan added. "Never alone." The car weaved through traffic. Erick exhaled. "He'll be there tonight.""Yeah," Ivan said.
"Good."
Ivan kept driving, but the word settled between them.
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Chapter 84—We Attack
The first contract delay arrived at 9:03 a.m. as a polite email.A mid-tier logistics partner that had worked with GD Tech for four years requested a temporary pause on a pending infrastructure renewal agreement. The language was careful. They cited internal review processes and the ongoing federal matters surrounding the company. No accusation. No open withdrawal. Just a pause that could stretch indefinitely if no one pushed back.By noon there were three more.Erick read each one in the restricted operations room without comment. The federal oversight already limited major transfers and system changes. Now the quiet isolation the intermediary had described was beginning to take shape in real time. Partners were not cutting ties. They were simply becoming cautious in ways that required no public explanation.Remi stood beside him, arms folded. “They’re doing exactly what he said they would. No speeches. No visible attack. Just distance.”“Yes,” Erick said. “And distance is harder to
Chapter 83— What We’re Searching For
The two dark cars stayed with them for eleven blocks.Jacqueline took a sudden left, then two rights through narrower streets. The cars adjusted without hurry, as if they already knew the route options. When she finally cut through a service alley and emerged on a different avenue, the tails were gone — but the message was clear.They had been allowed to notice.Back at the secondary facility, the atmosphere had changed. No one raised their voice. No one wasted movement. Erick stood at the central table while Aria replayed the surveillance fragments she had captured from street cameras. The vehicles were clean. No plates that led anywhere useful. No faces visible through the tinted glass.“They’re not trying to grab us,” Jacqueline said. “Not yet. They’re showing us they can sit on our shoulder whenever they want.”Remi stood with her arms folded tightly. “The general reported the conversation immediately. That was the point of letting you walk out.”Erick nodded. “He gave us a name f
Chapter 82— Very Confident or Very Stupid
The car stopped two blocks short of the address.Erick sat in the back seat with the window cracked just enough to let in the cold air. Remi was beside him. Jacqueline drove. No one spoke for a full minute after the engine cut off.The building was a quiet brick residential block on a tree-lined street. No doorman. No visible cameras at street level. The kind of place that looked forgettable on purpose.“Third floor,” Jacqueline said. “Corner unit. He’s been inside for forty minutes.”Erick checked the time. “We don’t go up. We wait.”Remi’s hands rested still in her lap. “If he panics—”“He won’t see us,” Erick said. “Not yet.”They watched.At 9:17 the general left the building. He was older than the photographs, silver hair cut short, dark coat, walking with the controlled pace of a man who had spent decades expecting to be observed. He carried nothing in his hands. A black car was already waiting at the curb. He got in without looking around.The car pulled away.Jacqueline follow
Chapter 81—Silent Pressure
The federal oversight order hit at 7:14 a.m.It arrived as a sealed digital packet, locked behind three layers of encryption and stamped with a court seal that basically said, don’t even try to argue.Erick read it once in the secure conference room of the secondary GD Tech site, then read it again, slower.While the investigation into the Global Tech Summit and the related system activity continued, operational control of Gerard Dominion Technologies was being placed under temporary federal review. From that moment on, any major money transfers, core system changes, or public statements needed prior clearance.He set the tablet down without saying a word.Remi watched him from across the table. The exhaustion from the Summit was still written all over her face, but she kept her posture
Chapter 80 — First Names
The temporary safe house was quieter than the Summit had been, but the silence carried more weight.Erick sat at the central table with the lights dimmed. The damp navy suit had been replaced by a clean black shirt and dark trousers, though the bandages under the fabric still pulled when he moved. Remi sat across from him. Jacqueline leaned against the wall. Aria’s hologram hovered above the table, already pulling data streams.“We start with the two names Dominique gave us,” Erick said. “The retired general and the private equity woman. We treat everything else as noise until we have a real trail.”Aria’s interface expanded. “I’ve cross-referenced both names against every financial and communications log we currently control. The general is easier to surface. Retired three years ago. Still holds informal advisory roles on two defense technology committees. The woman is harder. She operates through a private equity fund registered under three different holding companies. Most of the r
Chapter 79 — The Next Layer
Remi remained beside him, her hand still resting on the table near his.“They didn’t even flinch when you asked about the Clarkes,” she said quietly. “That’s not caution. That’s protection.”Erick nodded once. “Leroy lost the public battle today. His name is toxic now. Michel is finished. Evelyn will spend the rest of her life managing the fallout. But the Clarkes walked out of here without a single question. That doesn’t happen by accident.”He stood and walked to the glass wall, looking down at the main hall. Leroy was no longer visible. Neither were Martin nor the Congressman. The space they had occupied was already being cleared by event staff and federal personnel.Jacqueline entered the room a moment later, followed by Adrian. Ivan waited just outside with two of his men.“Federal agents are setting up a temporary command post on the third floor,” Jacqueline reported. “They’re treating the recordings as primary evidence against the Laurents. But there’s no active warrant for Mar
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