Chapter 7 - The Cornered Rat
Desperation breeds stupidity. Richard, stripped of his company, his reputation, and his secret wealth, resorted to his basest instinct: blackmail.
He borrowed a burner phone and called Eleanor. She answered on the first ring.
"I have the tapes, Eleanor," Richard snarled, pacing in a dingy diner on the outskirts of the city. "The audio of your father manipulating the stock prices back in '98. If I go down, I'm taking your family's legacy with me. I'll give them to the SEC unless you give me back my Zurich money."
There was a long silence on the other end of the line.
Then, Eleanor laughed. It was a cold, terrifying sound.
"Oh, Richard. Did you really think I spent eight months planning this and forgot to sweep the corners?"
"I'm not bluffing!" he yelled.
"I know you aren't. But you should turn on the news, darling."
May you like
Richard looked up at the small television hanging in the corner of the diner. A breaking news banner flashed across the screen: VANCE-STERLING HOLDINGS ANNOUNCES INTERNAL AUDIT DISCOVERING HISTORIC 1998 MARKET MANIPULATION; NEW CEO ELEANOR VANCE PAYS HISTORIC FINES TO SEC IN TRANSPARENCY INITIATIVE.
She had outed her own father's crimes. She had paid the fines from Richard's stolen Zurich money. She had neutralized his only weapon before he even knew he was in a fight.
