Chapter 8 - Julian’s Back Against the Wall
News of Clara’s sudden arrest hit the stock market like a seismic shockwave. Sterling
Technologies’ shares plummeted by twenty-two percent within the first hour of trading. Julian
Vance, barricaded in his executive penthouse office on the 40th floor, frantically shredded
document after document until his hands bled. His offshore transfers had been frozen by federal
authorities; his co-conspirators on the board had already begun cutting ties, releasing public
statements blaming Julian entirely for the corporate malfeasance. Desperate and unhinged,
Julian packed a duffel bag filled with bearer bonds and his passport, planning a frantic midnight
escape via private helicopter from the building’s rooftop pad. But as the elevator doors chimed
on the top floor, he found his exit blocked not by police, but by a solitary figure standing calmly
against the glass skyline: Edward Sterling, walking unaided for the first time in weeks, his gaze as
May you like
cold and unyielding as polished steel.
The Eternal Promise — Complete 15-Chapter Edition Page 4
