Chapter 17 - The Counter-Strike
Elena had underestimated us. She assumed that because our public face was philanthropic, our corporate defenses were soft.
She didn't realize that Julian—now our chief security architect—had spent the last three years building a neural network firewall capable of tracking illicit capital flows across international borders in real time.
"She’s routing the final tranche of acquisition funds through a dummy account in the Cayman Islands at midnight," Julian announced, his fingers flying across his keyboard with blistering speed. "If we hit her with an emergency regulatory freeze right now, we can trap her assets before the market opens in London."
"Do it," Marcus instructed without a moment's hesitation.
A series of sharp digital chimes echoed through the boardroom as Julian executed the freeze protocol. On the screen, a massive crimson wall slammed down across Elena’s offshore routing paths, locking her out of her own liquidity pools instantly.
"Checkmate," Julian smiled, leaning back in his chair. "Her shell company is officially insolvent. Her proxy shares revert directly back to the Wellington-Collier trust."
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Marcus let out a low, satisfied breath, reaching over to squeeze my hand. "You know, Claudia, every time someone tries to tear us down, you somehow end up owning a larger piece of the skyline."
"I don't want the skyline, Marcus," I smiled. "I just want the foundation to keep growing."
