Chapter 5 - The Corporate Slaughter
By Tuesday morning, the financial world was in a frenzy.
Arthur Vance had moved all his liquid capital and heavily leveraged his hedge fund to aggressively acquire Apex Tech, believing he was stealing a multi-billion-dollar deal right out from under my nose. He paid triple the market value, desperate to crush me.
I sat in my office, watching the Bloomberg terminal with Marcus.
“He just closed the deal,” Marcus said, grinning.
I picked up the phone and called the SEC, connecting directly to a senior director I had worked with on regulatory compliance for years.
“Bill,” I said. “It’s Julian Sterling. You might want to look into Apex Tech. My analysts found massive discrepancies in their offshore tax filings. They’re facing a federal indictment by the end of the week. Their stock is about to be completely worthless.”
By 2:00 PM, the news broke. The Department of Justice raided Apex Tech’s headquarters for massive corporate fraud. The stock didn't just plummet; it vaporized.
Arthur Vance had just spent three billion dollars on a company that was legally dead. His hedge fund was instantly insolvent. He was ruined.
I received a frantic call at 3:15 PM. It was Arthur.
“You set me up!” he screamed into the phone, sounding like a wild animal. “You fed her fake intelligence! I’m ruined, Sterling! I’ve lost everything!”
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“You bought stolen goods, Arthur,” I replied coldly. “And you trusted a con artist. Don't ever step into the ring with me again.” I hung up.
I had neutralized my biggest rival, and Chloe had been the weapon I used to do it. But I wasn't finished with her.
