Chapter 7 - The Desperate Counterattack
By Tuesday, Richard Van Der Bilt was a cornered beast, and like any cornered beast of his lineage, he resorted to venom.
At ten in the morning, Julian was in the executive suite of Vance Enterprises, reviewing the formal adoption petitions Evelyn Ross had prepared, when the private elevator doors opened without authorization. Two security guards were being physically shoved aside by Richard Van Der Bilt, who looked as though he hadn't slept in days. His hair was disheveled, his silk tie was askew, and his eyes burned with erratic, desperate fury.
"Leave us," Julian ordered his guards calmly, not even rising from his mahogany desk.
The guards retreated, closing the double doors behind them. Richard marched to the center of the office, slamming a thick manila folder onto Julian’s desk.
"You think you’ve won, you arrogant upstart?" Richard snarled, his chest heaving. "You think you can destroy my family name over a half-breed bastard child?"
Julian’s expression turned lethal, but he remained seated. "Watch your tongue, Richard."
"I have spent the last forty-eight hours with my private investigators," Richard continued, ignoring the warning. "We dug into your past, Julian. We found the offshore shell companies you used to acquire the European logistics networks in 2021. If I release this file to the SEC and the Justice Department, you’ll be tied up in federal antitrust investigations for a decade. Your stock will tank. Your board will strip you of your chairmanship."
He leaned over the desk, a feral sneer on his face. "Here is my counter-offer: You drop the custody petition. You sign the child over to a private, secure psychiatric facility in Switzerland that my lawyers have already arranged. In exchange, I burn this file, and Vance Enterprises continues to print money. We both walk away."
Julian looked at the manila folder. He reached out, picked it up, and flipped through the pages with bored indifference. Then, he tossed it into the stainless-steel wastebasket beside his desk.
"Did you really think my compliance team didn't clear those European acquisitions with the SEC three years ago?" Julian asked softly. "You’ve been out of the real game for too long, Richard. You rely on intimidation because you no longer have the intelligence to compete."
Julian pressed a button on his intercom. "Evelyn, send in the morning market update."
A moment later, his large wall monitor flickered to life, displaying financial graphs bathed in red.
"While you were busy hiring private eyes to dig up non-existent dirt on me," Julian said, standing up and towering over the older man, "I spent two billion dollars buying up the short-term promissory notes on your commercial real estate holdings. At nine o'clock this morning, I called in the debt. Your banks have frozen your credit lines. Your family trust is officially insolvent."
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Richard staggered back a step, the color draining from his face as he stared at the red numbers on the screen. "You... you couldn't have..."
"I own your mortgages, Richard. I own the building your lawyers operate out of. And by Friday, I will own the townhouse where you locked my daughter in the dark," Julian said coldly. "Now get out of my building before I have my guards throw you onto the pavement."
