Chapter 9 - Checkmate
Richard Vance's face turned a mottled, furious purple. He looked around, realizing that half a dozen financial reporters were recording the entire exchange on their phones.
"This is a lie! A desperate stunt by a failing CEO!" Richard shouted, his calm facade shattering completely. He pointed a trembling finger at me. "You assaulted my son!"
I turned my gaze to Julian, who suddenly looked very small in his expensive Gucci jacket. "Julian," I said softly. "Take off the neck brace."
"I... I can't, my doctor said—"
"Take it off, or I release the security footage from the parking garage that shows you completely unharmed, doing lines of cocaine off the dashboard of your Ferrari twenty minutes after I left."
Julian froze. He looked at his father, terrified. Slowly, with shaking hands, he undid the velcro of the neck brace and pulled it off, revealing a perfectly healthy, unbruised neck.
The cameras flashed aggressively.
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"Checkmate, Richard," I whispered, stepping close so only he could hear. "Your stock is going to plummet by morning. You're going to face federal investigations for bribery. And if you ever come near my company again, I will buy Apex Capital for pennies on the dollar and liquidate it just for fun."
I turned my back on them and walked toward the exit, the crowd parting for me in stunned reverence. I had entered the room as a myth, and I was leaving it as an undisputed king.
