Chapter 11 - The Empire of Ironwood
A week after Derek’s sentencing, Baldric stood on the seventy-second floor of the Vance Financial Tower—now officially rebranded as Ironwood Corporate Center.
The grand office that once belonged to Roger Vance had been entirely redesigned. The ostentatious gold plating and crystal chandeliers were gone, replaced by clean, minimalist architecture, warm mahogany woodwork, and large display screens tracking global logistics nodes.
Marcus Vance, former CFO and Roger’s brother, stood nervously near the desk, holding a thick stack of restructuring documents.
“Every subsidiary has been successfully absorbed into the Ironwood network,” Marcus reported, his voice shaking slightly. “The remaining capital—amounting to roughly 4.2 billion dollars—has been transferred directly into the Arianne Foundation for Domestic Abuse Survivors.”
Baldric didn't look up from the blueprints he was examining. He was adjusting the schematics for a new automated freight distribution center upstate.
“And Roger?” Baldric asked calmly.
“He’s... he’s living in a small studio apartment in New Jersey,” Marcus whispered. “All his personal accounts were seized to pay back taxes and victim restitution funds. He’s completely broken, sir.”
Baldric finally raised his eyes, looking steadily at the man who had once treated working people like disposable trash.
“Tell him to stay out of our way, Marcus,” Baldric said softly. “And tell him he should consider himself lucky that I didn't take the clothes off his back, too.”
May you like
Marcus swallowed hard, nodded frantically, and backed out of the office, closing the heavy oak doors with reverent silence.
Baldric turned back to the floor-to-ceiling window, looking out over the sprawling skyline of the city he had quietly built, protected, and ultimately reclaimed.
