Chapter 28 - Blood on the Black Ice
Julian’s face went pasty beneath his salon tan. "You’re bluffing. The injunction was granted at eight o'clock."
"The injunction was granted against Vance Logistics LLC," I said, turning to face the battery of news cameras now swiveling greedily in our direction. "What you failed to realize, Julian, is that the proprietary software powering Vance’s supply chain was never owned by Arthur’s company. It was patented under a blind trust held by St. Jude’s Holdings—a trust Arthur created using offshore funds derived from wire fraud."
I took a step closer, watching a bead of sweat break across Julian’s forehead.
"Arthur gave me the master decryption keys three hours ago in federal holding," I whispered, loud enough for the reporters in the front row to catch every syllable. "At four-thirty this afternoon, I handed those keys directly to the Securities and Exchange Commission, along with the encrypted records of every illegal shell account you set up for him in Cyprus."
"You destroyed the whole company," Julian hissed, his composed facade finally cracking, showing the feral, desperate beast underneath. "You burned down your own inheritance!"
"I didn't have an inheritance, Julian," I smiled, feeling the terrifying, intoxicating lightness of a woman who had stripped away every lie she had ever been forced to carry. "I was never Arthur’s heir. I was his collateral. And now, you’re his cellmate."
Sirens, muted by the heavy double doors of the hotel, began to howl from the street outside. Two plainclothes federal marshals, followed by four Boston police officers, stepped through the grand foyer, their badges gleaming under the crystal chandeliers.
Julian looked toward the service exit, but the room was too crowded, the cameras too blinding, the web too tight.
May you like
I leaned in, meeting his terrified gaze one last time. "Chloe sends her regards. She's currently giving a sworn deposition regarding the black sedan you parked in my alley."
As the federal marshals clamped the cold steel cuffs around Julian’s wrists in front of sixty flashing news cameras, I turned on my heel and walked out of the ballroom, the applause of the wolves devouring their own echoing behind me.
