Chapter 18 - Broadcast
Forty-eight hours later, the global financial markets were thrown into unprecedented chaos. At exactly 9:00 AM, every major news network, financial wire service, and regulatory database simultaneously received the digitized audio logs of Elena Doyle, alongside the unredacted offshore bank transfers linking Vanguard Holdings to decades of corporate fraud and political corruption.
From my office on the fifty-first floor, I watched live feeds of federal agents raiding Vanguard’s Midtown headquarters. Box after box of documents was hauled out into the daylight, while international arrest warrants were issued for the firm's elusive executives hiding in the Caymans.
My phone rang—an unknown, encrypted satellite call. I answered it immediately.
"You've triggered a global financial collapse, Madison," a cold, synthesized voice hissed through the speaker. "You can't touch everyone. We are everywhere."
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"Not anymore," I replied calmly, looking out the reinforced glass window where Dante stood beside me, watching the city below. "The house of cards is down. And I own the ground it was built on."
I hung up the phone and blocked the number permanently.
