Chapter 9 - The Broadcast
The words hit the room like a physical blow.
Alexander grabbed his encrypted phone from the desk, swiped the screen, and pulled up a live-streamed feed from a major international news network. The thumbnail showed an aerial shot of the resort entrance, surrounded by flashing police lights, satellite trucks, and hundreds of wedding guests scrambling toward the exits.
The banner scrolling across the bottom of the screen read: ROYAL EMBARRASSMENT: FINANCIAL SCANDAL THREATENS CROWN RESERVES AS DOJ INTERVENES AT HIGH-PROFILE WEDDING.
"It's already on the wire," Alexander said, his face pale as he watched the broadcast. "The documents aren't just in the hands of the DOJ anymore. Someone leaked the complete ledger—including the birth certificates and the renunciation letters—directly to the global press syndicate."
Director Vance frowned, checking his own encrypted terminal. "That wasn't my department. My team sealed the physical archives thirty minutes ago. If those documents hit the wire, someone inside this estate had to have transmitted them using an independent secondary relay."
Every head in the room slowly turned toward Rachel.
She shrank back against the bookshelf, her hands flying to her mouth, shaking her head frantically. "No! It wasn't me! Why would I leak my own wedding scandal to the press? That destroys everything I just spent a year trying to build!"
"Because," a calm, familiar voice said from the doorway, "if the scandal goes public before the merger is legally finalized, the crown is forced to settle out of court to protect its public image—granting full legal immunity to whoever controls the Ohio holdings."
We all turned.
Standing in the splintered frame of the study door, leaning casually against the cracked wood, was Marcus Vance—not Director Vance from the DOJ, but a man who bore a striking resemblance to the legal counsel whose name had appeared at the bottom of every fraudulent trust document Rachel had signed.
Except this man wasn't wearing a federal badge. He wore an expensive bespoke Italian suit, and in his hand, he held a secure satellite transmitter blinking with a steady green light.
"Marcus," Alexander said, his voice tightening into a snarl as he stepped toward the intruder. "You're the crown's senior legal advisor. What are you doing here?"
"Doing my job, Your Highness," Marcus replied smoothly, stepping into the room past the hesitant federal marshals. He didn't look intimidated by the armed officers or the king. "The monarchy has been dying a slow, bureaucratic death for decades, weighed down by archaic traditions and empty vaults. When Miss Carter here started digging into her grandmother's old Ohio trust, I simply gave her the shovel. I helped her draft the routing protocols. I gave her the security bypass codes. And yes, I made sure the digital trail eventually looped back through Commander Carter's active-duty naval terminal."
I stared at him, the pieces of the entire puzzle finally snapping into a horrifying, crystal-clear alignment.
"You didn't just advise my sister," I said, my voice dangerously low as I stepped toward him. "You engineered the entire operation. You used her ambition, my military clearance, and the royal family's fear of exposure to force a hostile financial takeover of the crown's reserves."
"Not a hostile takeover, Commander," Marcus smiled, pocketing his transmitter. "A restructuring. And the best part is, under international maritime and financial law, the moment those documents hit the public wire, the crown has exactly two hours to sign over its dormant holdings to an independent oversight committee—a committee that I happen to chair."
May you like
He looked directly at King Edward, whose face had gone completely rigid with fury.
"Sign the transfer papers, Your Majesty," Marcus said, his voice dropping all pretense of politeness. "Or watch your family name dragged through an international embezzlement trial that will end the monarchy before midnight."
