Chapter 7 - The Mastermind's Ledger
I walked directly to the center of the mahogany conference table, resting one hand over my belly while Nathan placed the leather briefcase down and popped the brass latches open with a sharp, metallic click. I pulled out a stack of bound, blue-embossed ledgers and tossed them onto the polished wood, letting them slide straight toward Richard Reynolds.
""What is the meaning of this circus?"" Reynolds hissed, glancing nervously between the armed guards Nathan had positioned at the exits. ""Who authorized this woman to enter a closed commission hearing?""
""I authorized myself, Mr. Reynolds,"" I replied, leaning slightly forward, resting both palms flat on the table, matching the predatory posture Alexander had used for years. ""You claim my child is illegitimate, and that Alexander has breached his fiduciary duties to this council. But you seem to have forgotten that for the past five years, every single offshore transaction, union contract, and maritime shipping manifest was audited, encrypted, and certified under my legal maiden signature.""
The elderly council members leaned forward, their expressions shifting from irritation to sharp alarm. I flipped the top ledger open to a flagged page highlighted in red ink.
""On March 14th,"" I spoke clearly, projecting my voice across the frozen room, ""Richard Reynolds siphoned forty-two million dollars from the commission's shared pension fund through a dummy logistics company based in Panama, routing the kickbacks to a private account under Sophia Reynolds’ name in Zurich. On August 2nd, he offered thirty percent of the southern docks to the Marcone family behind this council’s back, promising to eliminate Alexander to finalize the deed.""
Reynolds turned the color of spoiled milk. ""That’s... that’s an outright fabrication! She’s an outsider! A hysterical woman trying to save her former lover!""
""Those ledgers contain Sophia’s personal signature, Mr. Reynolds, which I cross-referenced with the five-million-dollar bribe your daughter personally delivered to my front porch three weeks ago,"" I said, pulling out high-resolution photographs of the torn bearer bonds sitting in the mud outside my house, accompanied by date-stamped surveillance stills. ""Alexander didn't bring his army here today not because he was weak, but because he was waiting for me to finish the forensic audit that proves you are a traitor to your own syndicate. The only illegitimate entity in this room, Richard, is your claim to that chair.""
The silence in the boardroom was deafening. The other five syndicate bosses slowly turned their heads away from Reynolds, their eyes darkening with lethal consensus. In our world, violence was tolerated, but stealing from the collective treasury was an automatic death sentence.
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Reynolds reached frantically toward his jacket pocket, but before his fingers could touch the leather of his holster, Alexander moved with terrifying speed. In a blur of motion, Alexander vaulted across the corner of the table, his hand clamping around Reynolds’ throat like a vice of pure titanium, slamming the older man's head back against the leather seat until his eyes bulged.
""You threatened my wife,"" Alexander whispered, his voice vibrating with a terrifying, primal calm that chilled the entire room to absolute zero. ""You sent your daughter to insult her, you stationed snipers to ambush me, and you dared to speak about my child. If you ever breathe her name again, I will not just kill you, Richard. I will erase your entire bloodline from the history books of this country.""
