Chapter 18 - The Ruined Legacy
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Without taking his eyes off the terrified Eleanor, the President reached into his pocket and pulled out his secure cell phone. He hit a single speed-dial button. The entire room waited in agonizing suspense as the phone connected to his financial director back in the capital.
“This is the President,” he said, his voice ringing with undeniable authority. “The Sterling Logistics restructuring deal. I want all government funds pulled immediately. Cancel the bailout. Terminate all future contracts. Suspend the capital restructuring agreement entirely. Yes, right now. I want their legal and financial teams escorted out of the treasury building before I hang up this phone.”
He lowered the phone and ended the call. The execution was absolute and instantaneous.
Eleanor’s face went completely slack. The air rushed out of her lungs in a pathetic wheeze.
“No!” Arthur screamed, scrambling up from the floor, his face red from the slap and his eyes wide with utter panic. “Mr. President, please, I beg you! Don’t pull the funds! If you walk away now, the banks will call our loans by tomorrow morning! The family business will be completely bankrupt! We won’t survive the week!”
The President looked at the weeping, pathetic man with absolutely zero sympathy.
“When my daughter was lying on this floor in pain, when my grandson was screaming in terror in her arms, did you do a single thing to stop your family from falling apart?” the President asked, his tone icy and unforgiving.
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Arthur froze, completely paralyzed by the impossible weight of his own guilt. He had no answer.
Eleanor’s legs finally gave out. She collapsed onto the bottom step of the staircase, her trembling hands gripping the stone railing as she realized the horrifying truth. The woman she had just kicked out was not useless trash; she was the only bridge that could have saved their entire legacy from absolute ruin. And they had burned it to ash.
