Chapter 8 - The Aftermath
News of the Pierce family's total financial ruin dominated the financial papers for weeks, but the details of who orchestrated the takeover remained sealed behind a wall of impenetrable corporate anonymity. Vanguard Holdings operated like a ghost organization—a massive financial juggernaut that existed only on digital ledgers and offshore banking certificates.
In downtown Manhattan, the towering glass-and-steel skyscraper that once bore the Pierce family name was officially rebranded as the Sullivan Tower. The new executive board, quietly appointed by Maeve under my direct supervision, immediately restored the three million dollars stolen from the employee pension fund, distributing back-pay and medical bonuses to hundreds of hardworking families who had been left out to dry by Desmond and Owen.
Down in Queens, Jackson’s private investigation firm expanded into a full-scale corporate oversight and security consultancy, funded entirely by Vanguard endowments. Maeve was living comfortably in Zurich, occasionally sending encrypted updates about how much fun she was having auditing corrupt hedge fund managers on the side.
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As for Owen and Margot, they had vanished from the high-society circles of New York entirely. Stripped of their wealth, their penthouse, and their inflated social status, they were forced to rent a modest, cramped apartment in the outer boroughs—experiencing for the very first time what it felt like to work for a living without a silver spoon in their mouths.
I watched a brief segment about their downfall on a late-night news broadcast, sitting comfortably in the old wooden rocking chair on our cabin porch. I didn't feel anger. I didn't feel satisfaction. I just felt the quiet indifference one feels when looking at a weed that has finally been pulled from a garden by the roots.
