Chapter 19 - The Silent Partners
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Vance’s voice grew tense as he continued reading the elegant handwriting.
“Adrian was foolish enough to believe he was the mastermind of the Vale Meridian takeover. He was not. He was merely the blunt instrument we selected to force the door open. The millions he embezzled were not lost to gambling; they were down payments made to our organization to secure the necessary infrastructure for the hostile acquisition.”
I gripped the armrests of my wicker chair. Adrian hadn't acted alone. He was too cowardly, too unorganized to pull off a multi-billion dollar corporate raid on his own. I had always suspected there was dark money behind him, but the prosecution had assumed it was standard white-collar bribery.
“By freezing his assets and locking down the voting trust,” the letter continued, “you have stolen a very significant, very expensive investment from us. We do not tolerate bad investments, Maya. Nor do we forgive debts. Adrian’s failure has now become your liability.”
“Who signed it?” I interrupted sharply.
“There is no signature,” Vance said, flipping the page. “Just a symbol. An embossed, silver circle with three interlocking triangles inside.”
I didn't recognize the description, but my mind was already racing, categorizing every major corporate rival, every hostile hedge fund, and every shadowy holding company I had ever crossed paths with.
“There’s one more paragraph at the bottom,” Vance noted.
May you like
“Read it.”
“You proved you can handle a dog kicking your front door in. But let us see how the brilliant, untouchable blind queen handles the venomous snake already living inside her walls. Check the audio logs from the library night again, Maya. You missed something in the background.”
