Chapter 10
Julian Hart’s face turned gray as he whipped his laptop fully open and began furiously tapping the keys.
Red warning text flashed across his screen, indicating a total freeze on all outgoing international transfers.
“This is illegal!” Julian raged, slamming his hand onto the polished desk.
“You have no authority to freeze my private offshore accounts!”
“I don't,” Dante agreed pleasantly. “But the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network does.”
Beatrice held up her tablet, showing a real-time transmission of the forensic evidence being uploaded to federal servers.
“Every wire transfer you authorized from the Moretti account is now logged with the Treasury Department,” she said.
“Your margin call in Zurich just failed, Julian. You are officially broke.”
Julian slumped back into his leather chair, the air completely leaving his lungs.
The powerful titan of Wall Street looked suddenly frail, crushed under the weight of his own hubris.
“You’ve ruined me,” Julian whispered, staring at Beatrice with a mixture of hatred and awe.
“You ruined yourself the moment you decided to treat people like disposable collateral,” Beatrice replied coldly.
Dante stepped forward, resting both hands on the edge of Julian’s desk, looming over him.
“The police are downstairs in the lobby right now, Julian,” Dante said, his voice dropping to a icy whisper.
“You have two choices. You can walk out in handcuffs, or you can sign over the Halcyon Crown property rights to clear your debt to me.”
Julian looked up, his eyes filled with sheer panic. “The hotel? That’s my crown jewel!”
“It was,” Dante corrected. “Now it’s compensation for the inconvenience you caused my queen.”
Beatrice looked at Dante, her heart skipping a beat at the effortless way he used the title again.
Julian realized he had no leverage left, no allies, and no way out of the net they had woven around him.
With a trembling hand, he signed the electronic deed transfer on his terminal.
“It’s done,” Julian choked out, looking utterly defeated.
“Pleasure doing business with you, Julian,” Dante said, sliding the confirmed transfer file into his encrypted network.
May you like
As sirens began to wail down on Fifth Avenue, Dante took Beatrice by the hand once again.
“Let’s leave the garbage for the authorities,” Dante murmured, leading her back toward the private elevator.
