Chapter 8 - THE FALLOUTBy sunrise the next morning, the corporate world of New York was in absolute shock.
News broke across financial networks and major newspapers that Varrick Maritime Holdings—one of the largest private shipping dynasties on the East Coast—had been hit with an immediate, indefinite freeze on all federal contracts pending a comprehensive criminal and ethical audit by the Department of Defense.
Stocks for Varrick Maritime plummeted by seventy-four percent within the first hour of trading.
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Reporters swarmed the Halcyon Harbor Club, interviewing staff who eagerly leaked the details of the disastrous family dinner—the screaming, the shattered wineglass, the multi-million-dollar contract revocation, and the decorated Navy lieutenant who had been humiliated by her own billionaire father.
Social media erupted. The hashtag #JusticeForLioraVarrick trended globally within hours. Photos of my military commendation record—securely leaked by naval command in an unprecedented show of solidarity—were plastered across every news channel. People who had never met me were flooding my old social media accounts with messages of support, while my father’s corporate email servers crashed under an avalanche of angry consumer boycotts and canceled shipping orders.
