Chapter 158 - The Baccarat Gambit
"What are you talking about, Vance?" Seraphina sneered, stepping in front of her aging father, her silver gown rustling like dry snake scales. "Our credit lines with the Bank for International Settlements are unassailable. The sixty billion in Basel is—"
"The sixty billion in Basel was permanently frozen by the Swiss Federal Council under an emergency national security directive issued at 20:00 hours," I interrupted, taking a glass of sparkling water from a passing silver tray.
I leaned forward, my emerald earrings catching the light of the crystal chandelier.
"Your father’s private holding company, Sterling Maritime Trust, has a margin call of four hundred million euros due to the European Clearinghouse at midnight tonight. If that liquidity is not verified on the central ledger before the clock strikes twelve... every vessel, every port concession, and every offshore account bearing your family crest enters involuntary bankruptcy."
Lord Sterling’s chest heaved. He reached into his coat pocket with a shaking hand, pulling out his encrypted smartphone.
The screen was flashing with seventy-two missed alerts from his Frankfurt compliance directors.
"No..." the old man rasped, stumbling against the edge of a high-stakes baccarat table. "That's impossible! We hold the sovereign collateral!"
"You held a forged adoption decree, Charles," Ethan said coldly, stepping into the old man's personal space until Sterling was forced back against the green felt. "And you held a stolen child's name. But you forgot that Julian Montgomery’s son is currently sitting aboard a French research vessel three miles offshore, running a recursive decryption script through your private cloud servers."
"Seraphina!" Lord Sterling wheezed, his eyes bulging in trapped terror. "The physical keys! The bearer bonds in the vault below!"
Seraphina’s icy composure finally shattered. She spun on her high heels, barking a harsh command to her two personal bodyguards:
"Lock down the subterranean corridor! Take the physical bonds from Vault Seven! If we have the paper, the clearinghouse cannot liquidate the assets!"
She lunged toward the private elevator.
"I wouldn't step into that elevator, Seraphina," I called out after her, my voice ringing across the silent room where seventy wealthy patrons had stopped playing to watch the dynasty crumble.
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Seraphina paused at the bronze doors, glaring back with murder in her eyes. "Why not, Victoria? Are you going to shoot me in front of the Prince’s guests?"
"No," I smiled, raising my left wrist to check my father's platinum watch. "Because my daughter just uploaded the access codes to the Monte Carlo police department. And the vault door locked from the inside thirty seconds ago."
