Chapter 7 - Stripped Bare
Within twenty-four hours, the financial world experienced an earthquake.
Astraea Global announced that Moretti Dynamics had defaulted on its sovereign debt obligations. Before the stock market could open for morning trading, the Securities and Exchange Commission halted trading on Moretti stock. By noon, institutional lenders seized the company's patents, its corporate real estate, and its prized defense contracts under the debt covenants I had acquired.
The board of directors held an emergency session and voted unanimously to terminate Vincent Moretti as Chief Executive Officer, replacing him with a managing committee appointed directly by Astraea Global.
Vincent sat on the curb outside his corporate headquarters, his tie undone, his tailored jacket tossed onto the pavement beside a cardboard box containing the few personal belongings he was allowed to take from his office. News reporters swarmed the perimeter like vultures, cameras flashing relentlessly as they broadcast his downfall live across the globe.
A sleek black limousine pulled up to the curb. The tinted window slid down halfway, revealing my face behind dark sunglasses.
Vincent scrambled to his feet, knocking his box over, scattering awards, family portraits, and fountain pens onto the concrete. He rushed to the car window, falling against the door, his breath fogging the polished glass.
""Anna... please,"" he rasped, looking entirely broken. He hadn't shaved; his eyes were sunken and hollow. ""They took the penthouse. They took the accounts. The federal marshals are seizing my properties to pay the DoD penalties. I have nothing left. Literally nothing.""
""I know,"" I replied smoothly through the crack in the window. ""I bought the penthouse this morning. I'm turning it into a subsidized daycare center for low-income mothers.""
Vincent swallowed hard, a bitter sob catching in his throat. ""Sophia left me. The moment the news broke, she cleaned out the safe in the apartment and tried to fly to Paris. But your people stopped her, didn't they?""
""The FBI stopped her,"" I corrected. ""Daniel handed over five years of financial records showing Sophia had been embezzling money from Moretti Dynamics' charitable foundation to pay for her offshore accounts and jewelry collections. She was arrested at JFK Airport two hours ago. She's facing twenty years in federal prison for grand larceny and wire fraud.""
Vincent closed his eyes, leaning his forehead against the car's cool metal. ""Good. Let her rot. She deserves it."" He opened his eyes, staring at me with desperate hunger. ""And what about me, Anna? What is my sentence?""
""Your sentence is to live,"" I said coldly. ""You will live in the world you built with your choices. You will work an ordinary job, pay ordinary rent, and ride the subway with the people you used to look down upon. And every single day, when you see a mother holding her child, you will remember that you had a daughter—and that you abandoned her to burn for a woman who robbed you blind.""
""Anna, don't do this to me... let me at least send her letters! Let me set up a trust for her when she grows up!""
""Valerie doesn't need your tainted money, Vincent. She owns the company you spent your entire life building. Goodbye.""
I pressed the button, and the window rolled up smoothly, severing his desperate gaze.
May you like
""Drive,"" I commanded.
As the limousine pulled away from the curb, I looked in the side mirror. Vincent was standing alone in the rain, surrounded by reporters, watching the tail lights disappear into the Manhattan traffic. He was entirely alone, stripped of his wealth, his prestige, and his soul.
