Chapter 5 - The Corporate Retaliation
By 8:00 AM on Monday morning, the financial district of Seattle was in a state of absolute chaos. The news of Lucas Davenport’s broken engagement to Victoria Vance had hit the financial wires at midnight, causing Davenport Enterprises' stock to plunge 8% in pre-market trading.
Marcus Sterling, the senior partner and chief corporate strategist of Davenport Enterprises, burst into the executive suite without knocking. At fifty-five, Marcus was a man who viewed human beings as line items on a balance sheet. He was dressed in a bespoke three-piece suit, his face purple with anger.
"Have you lost your mind, Lucas?" Marcus shouted, slamming a stack of financial reports onto the mahogany desk. "The Vance family is pulling the regulatory approvals for the Pacific shipping merger. Chief Justice Vance has already called an emergency meeting with the SEC to investigate our logistics contracts. We are looking at a thirty-billion-dollar valuation wipeout by noon if you don't call a press conference and apologize to Victoria!"
Lucas sat behind his desk, his expression a mask of absolute, unyielding stone. He was no longer the conflicted man from the restaurant. The boy from Pittsburgh had returned, and he had brought the full weight of his billion-dollar machine with him.
"Sit down, Marcus," Lucas said quietly.
Marcus blinked, surprised by the chilling calm in the younger man's voice. He slowly sat in the leather chair across from the desk, straightening his gold cuffs. "Lucas, look, I understand you're under stress. But this... this public display with a street child—"
"Her name is Lila," Lucas interrupted, leaning forward. "And she is my daughter."
Marcus’s hand froze mid-air. The color drained from his face, replaced by a sudden, calculating coldness. "I see. Clara Mercer has returned. I warned your mother seven years ago that we should have handled that girl more permanently."
"You framed her father," Lucas said, his voice dropping into a register that made Marcus’s spine stiffen. "You forged a wire transfer document. You threatened a young woman with federal imprisonment to protect your own share options in the Davenport IPO."
Marcus recovered his composure quickly, a thin, patronizing smile appearing on his lips. "We did what was necessary to protect the legacy of this company, Lucas. If you had married a botanist from a working-class family, the institutional investors from New York would never have backed the initial public offering. You wouldn't be a billionaire today. You owe your entire empire to that 'lie,' as you call it."
"Then the empire is built on a rotting foundation," Lucas said. He pulled a heavy leather folder from his drawer and slid it across the desk. "This is a comprehensive corporate audit of Sterling Logistics—the subsidiary you've been managing for the past five years. It details thirty-two separate instances of illegal tariff manipulation, offshore tax evasion, and direct bribery of customs officials in San Francisco."
May you like
Marcus’s smile vanished completely. His eyes darted to the folder, then back to Lucas. "You wouldn't dare. If you leak this to the authorities, the company’s stock will collapse completely. You’ll ruin yourself."
"I am the majority shareholder, Marcus," Lucas said, standing up and walking to the floor-to-ceiling windows, looking down at the city he had conquered. "I can survive a stock collapse. You, however, cannot survive a federal penitentiary. You have exactly one hour to sign your resignation papers, forfeit your remaining stock options to a private trust for Lila Davenport, and leave this building. If you are still here at 9:00 AM, the FBI will be waiting for you in the lobby."
