Chapter 4 - The Unraveling
Viktor tried to laugh it off, but the sound died miserably in his throat.
"I don't know whose ledger that is, Gideon," Viktor stammered, his fingers twitching against the edge of the table. "Some disgruntled employee trying to frame me. You can't seriously believe—"
"I don't believe things, Viktor. I verify them," Gideon interrupted, standing up from his chair.
At six-foot-two, with his broad shoulders and unblinking gaze, Gideon towered over Viktor. He walked slowly around the glass table, his leather-soled shoes clicking sharply against the polished concrete floor.
"You used company subsidiaries to fund predatory loans," Gideon recited, ticking off the points on his fingers. "You extorted administrative staff. You forged property titles across the West Side. And worst of all, you threatened someone under my roof."
Viktor panicked. He lunged toward his briefcase on the side table, desperately reaching for his phone to trigger an encrypted wipe command on his terminal servers.
He didn't make it.
Frank moved faster than a striking viper, grabbing Viktor’s arm behind his back and slamming him down onto the conference table with a dull thud.
"Get your hands off me! You can't do this!" Viktor shrieked, struggling frantically against Frank’s iron grip. "I have the board in my pocket! The union leaders in Queens answer to me! If you drop me, the whole shipping network goes down!"
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"Let it burn," Gideon said coldly, standing over him. "I built this empire from the ground up, Viktor. I didn't build it so a mid-level parasite could use my name to terrorize my staff."
Gideon signaled the enforcers. "Take him down to the basement holding facility. Have our legal team prepare federal indictments for racketeering, extortion, and corporate fraud. Make sure every prosecutor in the district gets a copy before lunch."
