Chapter 17 - Shadows in the BoardroomThree weeks later.
The morning sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows of my Tribeca penthouse study, illuminating the colorful crayon spaceship taped neatly to the corner of my mahogany desk.
I was reviewing the quarterly audit reports for the Foster-Santos Foundation when my secure desk intercom buzzed.
"Daniel," Frank’s voice crackled through the speaker, sounding uncharacteristically tense. "You have an unscheduled visitor in the lobby. Refusing to leave until security drags him out."
I frowned, keeping my eyes on the monitor. "Who?"
"Marcus Vance."
My fingers stopped typing. The name carried immediate weight. Marcus Vance was the senior managing partner of Vanguard Global Holdings—a multi-billion-dollar international private equity syndicate based in London that had historically partnered with my uncle Richard before the collapse of the Boston lab.
"Vance shouldn't even be in the country," I said, leaning back in my chair. "The SEC and federal prosecutors have his firm flagged under secondary anti-money laundering reviews."
"He didn't come through commercial channels," Frank repliedgrimly. "He came in on a private charter from Zurich. And he’s claiming that your uncle Richard signed over a controlling interest in an undisclosed European patent portfolio before the federal asset seizure—a portfolio that gives Vance legal leverage over the very foundational tech the foundation is currently distributing."
May you like
I stared at the crayon drawing of the spaceship for a long, silent second.
"Send him up," I said coldly. "Let's see what kind of leverage he thinks he has."
