Chapter 4 - The Counter-Strike
The courtyard was dead silent except for the hum of the broadcast van.
The news reporter, sensing a story ten times larger than a simple messy divorce, swung her microphone directly toward Julian Sterling.
"Mr. Sterling! Is it true that Sterling Global Holdings has been funding David Vance? Are these corporate espionage charges?!"
Julian didn't answer. He turned to his driver and barked, "Get the car. Now."
"Wait! Julian! You said you were going to help me get my half of the estate!" David yelled, grabbing Julian’s sleeve in desperation.
Julian turned and struck David across the face with the handle of his silver cane!
The sharp impact knocked David onto his hands and knees on the hard cobblestones. "Touch me again, you fool, and I'll have you thrown into a federal prison before nightfall," Julian growled through gritted teeth.
Julian scrambled into the back of his Bentley, and the luxury sedan sped down the driveway, leaving David kneeling in the dust, his lip bleeding, surrounded by news cameras capturing his ultimate humiliation.
The reporter turned back to me. "Director Vance, will you be pressing criminal charges?"
"My legal team is currently filing federal corporate espionage charges against Sterling Global Holdings and David Miller," I announced calmly. "As for Mr. Miller... he has thirty seconds to leave my driveway before my security team arrests him for trespassing."
David looked up at me from the ground, his eyes filled with tears of pure, desperate terror. "Sarah... please... I didn't know Sterling was using me! He promised me a vice presidency at his firm if I got him the Vance algorithms! I was just trying to build a future for us!"
"You didn't want a future for us, David," I said, looking down at him without a single trace of emotion. "You wanted a shortcut to a life you never earned."
I turned my back and walked up the stone steps.
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Two Apex guards stepped forward, grabbing David under his arms and dragging him out through the gates as the camera crew recorded every single second of his disgrace.
That afternoon, the video went viral across every news network in the country. The stock value of Sterling Global Holdings dropped by twelve percent in less than three hours.
