Chapter 38 - Blood in the Water
I didn't open the briefcase. Instead, I sat down on the leather armchair opposite her, crossed my legs, and smiled.
It wasn't a feigned smile. It was the genuine, venomous smile of a predator that had just lured its prey into the kill zone.
Eleanor’s eyes narrowed slightly. "You seem confused about who holds the detonator, Claire."
"You think you hold the detonator because you control the Monaco relay," I said calmly, leaning back. "You think you’re holding Astrid hostage. But tell me, Eleanor... who is currently managing the offshore accounts of the Sterling-Vance Syndicate in Zurich?"
Her brow furrowed. "Arthur Sterling was handling the keys until he proved incompetent. I took direct control—"
"No, you didn't," I interrupted. "Arthur didn't fail you. He broke. And when he broke in that Zurich vault two days ago, he traded his personal master key to me in exchange for his life. You think the Genesis drive in this case is your father's life work? The Genesis drive is empty, Mother."
Eleanor rose slowly from her seat, the aristocratic mask beginning to slip, exposing the vicious viper underneath. "What did you do?"
"Three minutes ago, the financial markets in London opened," I said, tapping my watch. "My team deployed a mirrored algorithm through Julian’s old corporate IP addresses. Every single dollar, every shadow bond, every bearer share you spent twelve years stealing from Dad has just been dumped into the open market at eighty percent below par."
Outside on the deck, Julian suddenly began banging frantically against the soundproof glass, his phone clutched in his hand, his mouth opening and closing in silent, screaming panic.
"Julian is getting margin calls on behalf of the entire syndicate," I continued, my voice dripping with cold satisfaction. "You used his name to register the holding companies to hide your trail from Interpol. Which means by noon today, French authorities, the SEC, and the Royal Navy won't just freeze your assets—they’re boarding this yacht to seize the proceeds of international wire fraud."
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"You insolent little brat!" Eleanor hissed, her composure completely shattering. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a sleek, black transmitter device with a digital touch screen. "I’ll stop her heart right now!"
***
