Chapter 9 - The Billionaire’s Confession
Victor didn’t flinch away from the accusation; instead, his sharp, calculating eyes glinted with a mix of amusement and genuine respect.
“You always were the sharpest auditor north of Los Angeles, Sabrina,” he murmured, picking up the folder without opening it. “The Vances were a cancer on this city’s real estate market. Raymond was cutting corners, bribing city council members, and building high-rises on foundations of sand and political payoffs. If the municipal oversight committee had caught wind of his structural violations first, the entire Northern California banking sector would have suffered a cascading liquidity crisis.”
He stood up, walking slowly toward the floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked the bustling harbor below.
“Did I accelerate their downfall by feeding you the clues? Absolutely. Did I create the monster that Christopher and Raymond became? No, Sabrina, they built that prison themselves through decades of greed and cruelty. I simply opened the cell door and let your righteous fury do the rest.”
I kept my posture rigid, my fingers resting lightly on the edge of the glass table as my mind raced to calculate every angle of his confession.
Legally, his manipulation bordered on tortious interference and corporate entrapment, but proving it in a court dominated by corporate defense attorneys would be nearly impossible.
Yet, Victor had made one critical miscalculation: he assumed I wanted to remain his puppet, content with the illusion of power while he pulled the strings from the shadows.
“You miscalculated my ambitions, Victor,” I said softly, standing up to match his gaze across the panoramic expanse of the office. “You thought by giving me the CEO title, you had bound me to your syndicate with golden chains. But you forgot what an auditor does when she discovers an unrecorded liability. I don’t just expose it—I liquidate it.”
Victor’s smile vanished for a fraction of a second, replaced by a cold, assessing hardness.
“And how do you plan to liquidate me, Sabrina? Your entire corporate backing depends on Sterling Corp’s liquidity lines. If you declare war on me, this tower, your position, and your hard-won independence will evaporate by sundown.”
I reached into my coat pocket, pulled out my burner phone, and tapped the screen twice before placing it face-up on the table.
May you like
“By the time the markets open this morning, the federal securities commission will receive an anonymous data packet detailing Sterling Corp’s systemic collusion with off-balance-sheet offshore accounts in the British Virgin Islands—accounts that happen to fund your entire portfolio.”
The color slowly drained from Victor’s face as the true gravity of my counter-strike hit him with full force.
