Chapter 15 - The Media StormBy noon, the financial news networks had completely melted down.
Screens across Times Square, downtown Chicago, and the Las Vegas Strip flashed breaking news banners in aggressive red and white: MERIDIAN CORP CEO ARRESTED IN CORRUPTION SWEEP; REED GLOBAL CLEARED OF ALL CHARGES.
The stock market opened at 9:30 AM with Meridian Corp’s shares plunging into freefall, while Reed Global stock surged by an unprecedented thirty-four percent in the first ten minutes of trading.
I stood in front of the giant monitors in the executive bullpen, watching the green numbers climb higher and higher, while half the analysts in the office were frantically answering calls from institutional investors.
"You realize," Graham said, walking up behind me and resting his chin comfortably on my shoulder, "that you're now officially the most powerful data strategist in the entire Midwest."
"I was already the most powerful data strategist in the Midwest," I corrected without turning around, though a warm smile spread across my face. "Now I just have better office furniture."
"And a husband who knows how to crash a hostile takeover with a microcassette tape," Graham added softly, his arms wrapping securely around my waist.
"Let’s not overplay your heroics, Ice King," I teased, turning in his arms to face him. "If I hadn't bypassed the firewall in that Vegas penthouse, you'd still be hiding behind a velvet curtain in a bathrobe."
"True," Graham admitted, his dark eyes softening as he looked down at me, the cool corporate armor completely gone, leaving only the man beneath. "I suppose marrying you was the smartest risk I ever took."
"A risk?" I raised an eyebrow, touching the platinum band on my finger. "You called it a legally binding corporate shield."
"It started that way," Graham murmured, leaning in until his lips brushed my ear. "Now, it’s just my favorite forever."
Before I could answer with another smart remark, the double doors of the bullpen burst open, and Arthur Vance walked in, waving a thick stack of legal papers with a triumphant grin on his weathered face.
"The federal prosecutor just signed off on the complete exoneration of Robert Vance," Arthur announced across the bustling office. "Your father’s name has been officially cleared of all corruption charges, Avery. The public record has been rewritten."
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The entire bullpen went quiet for a second, and then, spontaneously, the dozens of analysts, data engineers, and corporate executives began to clap.
I felt a hot prickle of tears sting the back of my eyes, but I blinked them away, holding my head high as Graham squeezed my hand tightly, anchoring me to the ground, to the present, and to a future we had fought through hell to build.
