Chapter 25 - The Confrontation in Prison
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The federal correctional facility in upstate New York was cold, grey, and smelled of industrial bleach.
I sat behind a thick plexiglass window in the high-security visitation room. A moment later, the heavy metal door opened, and Richard Hayes was led in by two guards, wearing an orange jumpsuit with his hands cuffed to a belly chain.
He looked broken. His sleek Wall Street arrogance was entirely gone, replaced by hollow eyes and stubble across his sunken cheeks.
He sat down heavily across from me, picking up the black telephone receiver.
I picked up mine. "Hello, Richard."
Hayes let out a harsh, bitter laugh. "Come to gloat, Empress Sterling? Come to watch the fallen titan in his cage?"
"I came for answers," I stated calmly. "David Miller is in federal custody. The Vanguard Logistics injunction is permanent. Vanguard Apex is crumbling."
Hayes smirked, leaning closer to the glass. "You think you've won because you put me in prison? You have no idea how deep Vanguard Apex goes, Elena."
"Then enlighten me," I said, leaning forward.
"Vanguard Apex isn't just a hedge fund," Hayes whispered, his eyes darting toward the guard in the corner. "It's a private syndicate of old-money families created forty years ago. And the founder... the person who holds fifty-one percent voting control..."
"Who is it?" I demanded.
Hayes smiled a sickly, yellow-toothed smile.
"It was your mother’s family, the Sterling bloodline," Hayes revealed. "The Vance family didn't steal your mother's legacy, Elena. Your mother hid her fortune in Vanguard Apex to keep it away from Arthur Vance. You aren't fighting an enemy... you're fighting your own family's dark past."
My hand tightened around the receiver until my knuckles turned white.
May you like
"My mother..." I breathed, shock echoing through my chest.
"Yes," Hayes laughed darkly. "The fortune you've been fighting to destroy... is yours. You just didn't have the key."
