Part 2: The Infrastructure Lockout
The transition from the delivery wing to the executive hospital suites took less than three minutes.
I stood by the glass overlook, watching the streetlamps cast long, thin shadows over the rainy Chicago asphalt.
My son was safe in the neonatal isolation unit, under a strict twenty-four-hour biometric security detail.
Grace was unconscious but stable, her system recovering from the severe cardiac stress of the sudden delivery.
The door behind me swung open, and Marcus stepped into the room, holding a leather-bound portfolio bearing the state supreme court's registry stamp.
"Raymond Reed just initialized a complete infrastructure foreclosure on our Lake Michigan shipping routes, Ethan," Marcus said, his face unusually pale.
"He's using the joint venture clauses you signed last winter to declare a material breach of contract."
"He thinks my distraction makes me vulnerable," I said, my voice dropping into a flat, clinical whisper.
"He believes that because I am holding a newborn child, I will forget how to protect the foundation."
"The corporate board has already called an emergency vote for 9:00 a.m. tomorrow," Marcus warned.
"If we don't present the original offshore liquidity ledger, they will strip your voting proxies and hand controlling interest to Natalie's family."
I turned away from the window, looking down at the small yellow folder resting on the bedside table.
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Natalie had believed our relationship was a permanent shield for her father's gambling debts.
She had forgotten that in my world, an alliance is only as strong as the data supporting it.
