Chapter 6 - THE SIX VULTURESWhile Carmen sat paralyzed in her chair, staring blankly at the television screen, her six wealthy, high-society friends were beginning to panic. These were women who spent their afternoons at exclusive country clubs, looking down on anyone whose last name wasn't etched into a park bench.
Now, trapped in a hotel suite with a criminal mastermind and his enforcers, the veneer of aristocratic superiority melted away entirely.
“Wait,” one of them—a woman draped in diamond tennis bracelets named Evelyn—stammered, standing up abruptly. “I had nothing to do with the beating! I just… I just watched! I didn’t lay a finger on Sofia!”
I turned my gaze slowly toward Evelyn. The sheer weight of my stare made her stumble backward, her heel catching on the edge of a Persian rug.
“You watched,” I repeated softly, stepping toward her. “You stood in that room, sipping champagne, while an innocent young woman was assaulted for refusing to hand over what was hers.”
“I’m a member of the City Heritage Board!” Evelyn shrieked, her voice cracking with hysteria. “My husband donates millions to the mayor’s re-election campaign! You can’t touch us—we’re untouchable!”
“Untouchable,” I mused, pulling a sleek black tablet from my coat pocket. I tapped the screen twice. “Evelyn Vance. Husband: Richard Vance, CEO of Vance Pharmaceuticals. Let’s see what kind of philanthropy Richard has been up to.”
I tapped the screen again and slid the tablet across the glass coffee table so it landed right at her feet.
Evelyn glanced down. On the screen was a detailed financial ledger, complete with bank transfer receipts, showing illegal kickbacks paid to municipal health inspectors to bypass safety regulations on toxic pharmaceutical waste disposal.
Evelyn’s breath hitched. She dropped to her knees, clutching her chest as if she were having a heart attack. “Where… where did you get that?”
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“My people don’t sleep, Evelyn,” I said coldly. “By noon today, every single one of these six women will be publicly exposed for securities fraud, tax evasion, or corporate corruption. Your country club memberships will be revoked. Your husbands will be facing federal indictments. And your names will become synonymous with public disgrace.”
The other five women began to weep openly, collapsing onto the floor in a pathetic heap of designer silk and ruined makeup. The mighty had fallen, and they hadn't even made it to the second act.
