Chapter 12 - The Counter-Stitch
The office door clicked open immediately, and Lily walked in carrying a thick, leather-bound portfolio, followed closely by Daniel. Lily’s face was glowing with fierce maternal strength and razor-sharp intellect, completely embodying the legacy of the Mercer name.
Lily walked straight to the desk and placed the portfolio right in front of Viktor Vance.
"Mr. Vance," Lily said, her voice ringing with absolute clarity. "You assumed Aegis Capital was operating in complete secrecy through your Zurich shell accounts. But you made one fatal miscalculation."
Viktor slowly opened the portfolio. Inside were detailed transaction logs, Swiss bank routing slips, and corporate registry documents linking Aegis Capital directly to Viktor’s personal offshore tax haven in the British Virgin Islands—along with clear evidence of insider trading and market manipulation.
Viktor’s face drained of color instantly. The arrogant smirk vanished completely, replaced by cold, unadulterated panic.
"This... this is privileged financial data!" Viktor stammered, half-rising from his chair. "You had no legal right to intercept international banking records!"
"We didn't intercept anything illegally, Viktor," I said, standing up to my full height and walking slowly around the desk until I stood right beside him. "When you routed your Cayman transactions through the primary clearinghouse banks that *Vanguard Holdings* happens to own and underwrite, every single byte of your digital footprint passed directly across our master servers."
Marcus Vance stepped forward, holding a federal subpoena form already signed by a federal judge. "And as of nine minutes ago, copies of these exact documents were delivered electronically to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice."
Viktor stared at the papers in horror, his hands trembling violently against the leather chair arms. "You... you set a honey trap. You knew I was coming."
"I knew that wolves always run toward the scent of blood," I replied coldly, looking down at him as one might look at an insect on a polished floor. "You thought you were hunting a retired seamstress. As it turns out, you just walked directly into a Federal penitentiary cell."
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Daniel crossed his arms, looking down at Viktor with quiet disgust. "Federal wire fraud, insider trading, and securities manipulation. That's a minimum of twenty years without parole, Viktor. Shall we call the federal marshals waiting downstairs, or would you prefer to walk out in handcuffs quietly?"
Viktor slumped back into the chair, utterly defeated. The apex predator had been skinned alive in broad daylight.
