Chapter 14 - The Pride of Victor Sterling
At eight o'clock that evening, the gates of the Sterling estate in Greenwich swung open.
Three black Mercedes sedans rolled out in a tight convoy, their tinted windows reflecting the cold streetlights of Connecticut. Inside the center vehicle sat Victor Sterling, impeccably dressed in a bespoke charcoal three-piece suit, an overcoat of black cashmere draped over his shoulders.
Across from him sat Thomas Croft, checking the action on an automatic pistol before holstering it under his arm.
"The federal marshals have surrounded the lower perimeter of our Manhattan offices," Croft said grimly. "Our accounts in Zurich and Luxembourg were frozen twenty minutes ago under international warrants issued by Judge Vance—Julian Vance’s uncle."
Victor did not flinch. His face was an emotionless mask of aristocratic disdain. "Samuel Bellamy’s roots run deep. I knew that. I simply did not anticipate that his daughter would possess his exact strategic rhythm."
"Why are we going to the Grand Pier, sir?" Croft asked, looking out at the darkened highway. "It’s an ambush. She has Devereux’s dockworkers, Grange’s enforcers, and the entire Blackwood security team. We are driving directly into her web."
"Of course it’s an ambush, Thomas," Victor said smoothly, looking out at the passing trees. "Nora wants a coronation. She wants to stand where her father stood, surrounded by her vassals, and demand that I bow my head. She thinks because she broke Cole Maddox, she has won the war."
He reached inside his coat pocket, pulling out a slim silver keycard.
"Cole was a pawn. But Nora forgets one critical detail: her father was not the only man who built the Bellamy empire. Samuel drew the maps, yes. But I was the one who paid the contractors who laid the concrete."
Victor looked at Croft, his eyes gleaming with a cold, malevolent light.
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"The Grand Pier was built in 1984. Beneath the central warehouse, beneath sixty feet of bedrock, lies the original Bellamy emergency terminal. The blast doors are controlled by an isolated pneumatic circuit that does not connect to North Harbor’s network. When Miss Bellamy assembles her captains on that pier tonight, she will not be hosting a coronation. She will be walking into a tomb."
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