Chapter 9 - The Demolition
The gala fell dead silent as three hundred of the city's most powerful people stared at the walls.
The code vanished, replaced by high-definition images. They were Marcus’s private emails. The original patent theft documents. The forged signatures. The audio recordings of Marcus paying off patent clerks three years ago.
“Just bury the Hayes file. The old man is broke, he can't afford a lawyer. Lumina is mine now.” Marcus’s recorded voice echoed through the ballroom speakers, loud and arrogant.
The investors in the room—the very men and women who were supposed to fund his IPO the next morning—backed away from Marcus as if he were carrying a plague.
Marcus stumbled backward, shaking his head. "No... no, it's a fake. Turn it off! Turn it off!"
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"You wanted everyone to hear you at the restaurant, Marcus," Clara said, her voice carrying across the silent, shocked room. "I thought you'd appreciate a larger audience."
The flash of red and blue police lights illuminated the massive windows of the ballroom. Clara hadn't just sent the evidence to the screens. She had sent it directly to the federal authorities.
