Chapter 7 - The Trap Snaps Shut
Board members leaped from their seats, shouting over one another in a frenzy of panic and outrage. Eleanor Vance grabbed her phone, her face flushed red, while two other directors moved away from Richard as if he were radioactive.
"This is a lie!" Richard bellowed, his composure completely dissolving into wild-eyed rage. "Marcus is insane! He’s trying to frame me to distract from his own failure with Diana Caldwell! Security! Have this man removed from the building!"
The heavy double doors of the boardroom swung open.
Two men in dark suits stepped into the room—but they weren't Ellison Tower security guards. They were special agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, led by Lead Agent Thomas Cole.
"Richard Hayes?" Agent Cole said, his voice echoing through the silent room as he pulled a folded federal warrant from his jacket. "We have a warrant for your arrest for bank fraud, wire fraud, corporate espionage, and grand larceny."
Richard stumbled backward, his legs hitting the edge of the mahogany sideboard. "You... you can't arrest me! I have full immunity under—"
"You have no immunity, Richard," Arthur Vance said, stepping forward with a calm, dangerous smile. "Because forty-five minutes ago, your co-conspirator, Diana Caldwell, made a full confession to the Assistant United States Attorney."
Richard stared at Arthur, his mouth working silently like a fish pulled out of water. "What?"
"It turns out," I said, crossing my arms, "that Diana wasn't nearly as loyal to you or Julian Vance as you thought she was. When faced with a twenty-year federal prison sentence for espionage, she traded you down the river in exchange for a plea deal. She gave us the encryption keys to Room 304 at the Grand Regency, the audio files of your planning sessions, and the signed agreements showing how you planned to split the profits from shorting Ellison stock."
Agent Cole stepped forward, pulling Richard’s arms behind his back and snapping the steel cuffs onto his wrists. "You have the right to remain silent, Mr. Hayes. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law."
As the federal agents led the disgraced CFO toward the door, Richard turned his head, glaring at me with eyes full of pure, unadulterated venom. "You think you're smart, Marcus? You think you've saved your precious empire? You haven't seen anything yet. Julian Vance has already executed the short orders! By four o'clock today, the market will panic, the stock will collapse, and you won't have enough capital left to buy a sandwich!"
"You forgot one thing, Richard," I said as the agents pushed him out into the hallway.
Richard stopped, looking back over his shoulder.
"Julian Vance didn't execute those short orders," I said softly, holding up a sleek tablet. "Because two hours ago, Ellison Enterprises bought Aegis Holdings outright through a private receivership sale in Zurich. Every single dollar Julian spent shorting my stock was routed back into my corporate treasury. You didn't bankrupt me, Richard. You just gave me a fifty-million-dollar tax write-off."
The color left Richard’s face entirely. He was pulled away into the elevator bay, silent, shattered, and utterly destroyed.
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I turned back to the room of shell-shocked board members. The heavy silence was broken only by the steady ticking of the wall clock.
"Now," I said, walking to the head of the table and picking up the executive pen. "Let's get back to business. We have an acquisition to complete."
