Chapter 9 - The House of Cards
On the massive digital screens behind Marcus, the corporate logo vanished.
In its place, a scanned, handwritten document appeared: Project Genesis. Author: Silas Vance.
The crowd fell silent in confusion. Marcus stopped mid-sentence, turning around to look at the screen. The color drained from his arrogant face.
"Cut the feed!" Marcus yelled into his microphone. "Security, cut the feed now!"
But Julian had locked the system. Next, the screen flashed to the 1994 police reports regarding the arson, complete with Marcus’s handwritten note to pay off the fire chief.
Gasps rippled through the ballroom of billionaires and investors.
Then came the kill shot. The screen split into a cascade of banking ledgers, showing billions of dollars being illegally siphoned from Vanguard Holdings and Sterling Financial into Marcus’s private offshore accounts in the Caymans. It was irrefutable, undeniable proof of the largest corporate fraud in Wall Street history, broadcast live to the SEC regulators sitting in the front row.
"Arrest him!" someone in the crowd shouted.
Marcus panicked. He leaped off the stage, shoving his own investors aside, sprinting toward the grand mahogany doors of the ballroom.
He grabbed the brass handles and pulled. They didn't budge.
Standing on the other side of the glass-paneled doors, dressed in a catering uniform but standing with the posture of a king, was Silas Vance. He had threaded a heavy steel chain through the handles and locked it with a padlock.
Marcus stared through the glass at the man he had tried to burn alive thirty years ago. Silas didn't smile. He just held up the faded Polaroid picture, pressing it against the glass so Marcus could see the faces of the family he had destroyed.
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The FBI agents attending the gala as guests drew their weapons and surrounded Marcus. The billionaire fell to his knees, his empire crumbling to ash in a matter of seconds.
Up in the AV room, Julian watched the monitors as Marcus was handcuffed. A heavy, suffocating weight lifted from his chest. The war was over.
