Chapter 7 - The Dragon's Legacy
10
Victor Drake was a ghost from the old era of corporate raiders—a brutal, unyielding billionaire who had built the Drake empire with brass knuckles and predatory buyouts before handing the reins to his son, Callum. He had spent the last decade in a quiet villa overlooking Lake Geneva, entirely absent from public life.
Until now.
By 8:00 AM the following morning, Victor Drake had executed an emergency debt-equity swap, leveraging his massive holding of Drake debt to claim forty-nine percent voting control over Drake Holdings, effectively snatching the company out of bankruptcy court.
I sat in the emergency board meeting at Sloan Meridian, looking at the large screen where news of Victor's sudden return dominated every major financial network.
"Victor Drake isn't like his son," Raymond warned, his face lined with deep anxiety. "Callum was ambitious, vain, and sloppy. He tried to play high-stakes poker using cheap tricks and personal blackmail. Victor Drake is a sledgehammer. He has billions in liquidity, zero moral reservations, and he considers Callum’s downfall a personal insult to the Drake name."
"Victor didn't care about Callum when he was running the company," I pointed out, staring at the photo of the silver-haired, cold-eyed tycoon on the monitor. "Why step in now?"
"Pride," my mother answered from the head of the table. "I knew Victor thirty years ago, Audrey. He doesn't care that Callum committed crimes. He cares that a Sloan brought down a Drake. He views your survival as an act of defiance against his family’s dominance."
Right on cue, my assistant entered the room, looking pale.
"Miss Sloan... Victor Drake’s counsel is on line one. He’s requesting a direct video conference with you immediately."
The board room went dead quiet. I looked at Raymond, who gave me a tight, cautious nod.
"Put it on the main screen," I commanded.
The news broadcast vanished, replaced by the high-definition video feed of a sunlit, marble-lined study in Geneva. Sitting behind an antique desk was Victor Drake. He looked seventy, but his eyes were sharp, dark, and utterly devoid of warmth.
"Miss Sloan," Victor said, his voice a deep, gravelly rasp that commanded immediate authority. "Or should I still say Mrs. Drake?"
"Miss Sloan will do just fine, Mr. Drake," I replied, keeping my voice level and icy. "I assume you aren't calling to offer an apology for your son’s federal crimes."
A dry, harsh chuckle echoed from his speakers. "Callum was a fool. He thought he could play with white-collar extortion like a child playing with matches. He got burned because he was weak, sloppy, and obsessed with vanity. I have no interest in saving him from his prison sentence. He made his bed; he can rot in it."
The coldness with which he dismissed his own son sent a shiver down my spine, but I didn't let my expression change.
"Then why buy forty-nine percent of Drake Holdings?" I asked.
"Because Drake Holdings carries my name," Victor said, leaning forward, his dark eyes locking onto mine through the lens. "And while Callum was a failure, he was right about one thing: Sloan Meridian’s liquidity reserves are necessary to secure Drake's long-term dominance. Your little maneuver with the forensic hold embarrassed my brand. It cost me eighty million dollars in market value overnight."
"Your son forged my signature and attempted to steal my father’s legacy," I shot back. "Your brand embarrassed itself."
"Arthur Sloan was a weak man who died of a broken heart because he couldn't handle the pressures of real power," Victor spat coldly. "And you are just a girl clinging to his ghost. You think you've won because my son is in handcuffs? The game hasn't even begun, Audrey."
"Is that a threat, Mr. Drake?" Raymond interrupted, stepping into the camera’s view. "Because this call is being recorded for federal monitors."
Victor didn't even glance at Raymond. His eyes remained locked on mine.
"It’s an offer," Victor said smoothly. "Sell me thirty percent of Sloan Meridian's voting shares at market value. Let me integrate our logistics divisions, and I will leave your family foundation untouched. Refuse... and I will use my remaining liquidity to short Sloan Meridian’s stock, buy up your primary suppliers, and force your medical division into bankruptcy before the quarter ends."
The sheer, unapologetic malice of his proposal hung in the air. He was offering me a corporate surrender masked as a partnership.
"My father built this company on integrity, Mr. Drake," I said, rising slowly from my chair, leaning over the table toward the camera. "Your son tried to break me with fear. He failed. You think because you have billions in Swiss accounts you can intimidate me into surrendering my father's work?"
"I don't think, Audrey," Victor said softly. "I know. You have forty-eight hours to accept the purchase offer. After that, I destroy everything Arthur Sloan ever touched."
The screen went black.
The silence in the board room was deafening. The directors looked at each other, panic creeping into their eyes. Victor Drake wasn't Callum; he possessed the capital and international influence to crush smaller firms through sheer financial attrition.
"We can't fight Victor in an open market war," one director panicked. "He’ll bleed our cash reserves dry within six months!"
"He’s buying up our supply chains as we speak!" another added. "If he cuts off our primary medical manufacturing partner in Germany, the research trials stop completely!"
I stood at the head of the table, feeling the weight of the entire company resting on my shoulders. For months, I had been reacting—defending myself against Callum’s traps, responding to blackmail, cleaning up messes.
It was time to stop playing defense.
"Raymond," I said, my voice sharp and clear. "Who owns the remaining fifty-one percent of Drake Holdings?"
Raymond checked his tablet quickly. "It’s split among a consortium of institutional investors, pension funds, and small shareholders who were crushed by the stock plunge."
"And how much would it cost us to buy thirty percent of those shares from those terrified investors right now while the stock is at rock bottom?" I asked, a dangerous idea taking root in my mind.
May you like
Raymond froze, looking up at me in shock. "Audrey... you want to buy Drake Holdings?"
"Victor wants a war for dominance," I said, a dark, victorious smile spreading across my face. "He thinks he’s coming to swallow Sloan Meridian. He doesn't realize we're about to buy his son's broken empire right out from under him."
