Chapter 5 - Shadows at the Citadel
The revelation hit the room like a thunderbolt.
General Vance—Julian Vance’s uncle—stood paralyzed beside the table, his jaw open in disbelief. "Julian? My nephew is working with you to sabotage our own fund's acquisitions?"
"Julian wasn't sabotaging the acquisition," Maya realized aloud, her sharp mind connecting the final pieces of the puzzle. "He was inflating Whitmore Global's valuation on purpose. He wanted Reed-Vance Capital to overpay for this merger by $1.5 billion. Then, once the acquisition completed, the excess capital would be laundered through the shell companies and funneled back into Julian’s private offshore fund."
It was an inside job of catastrophic proportions—a multi-billion-dollar embezzlement scheme operating right under the nose of Marcus Reed.
"Julian knew I was interning here," Maya realized, her brows furrowing. "Did he?"
"No," Arthur insisted frantically. "He had no idea! I swear it! He thought you were just an ordinary student! If he knew Marcus Reed's daughter was inside this building, he would have shut down the entire operation weeks ago!"
Maya stood up from the table, closing her laptop with a firm click.
"General Vance, secure all physical servers in this building," Maya ordered efficiently. "Place guards outside the IT department. Nobody leaves this building with a hard drive, a thumb drive, or a file folder."
"Where are you going, Ms. Reed?" General Vance asked.
"I'm going to Reed-Vance Tower," Maya said, pulling her coat around her shoulders. "It's time to have a conversation with my father's Vice Chairman."
As Maya walked toward the boardroom doors, Claire stepped into her path, looking smaller and more defeated than anyone had ever seen her.
"Maya... please," Claire whimpered, holding her arms tightly. "What's going to happen to me? To my family?"
Maya paused, looking down at the girl who had tripped her into the pool only hours earlier.
May you like
"You're going to lose your penthouse, Claire," Maya said calmly. "You're going to lose your luxury cars, your black cards, and your status in this city. You're going to have to get a real job, work forty hours a week, and learn how it feels to be treated like 'where interns belong.'"
Maya stepped past her, the doors swinging shut with a heavy, final thud.
