Chapter 3 — The Empire Begins to Collapse
Chapter 3 — The Empire Begins to Collapse
By sunrise...
Every bank financing Rivas Holdings had received the same confidential package.
Evidence.
Audio recordings.
Financial statements.
Hidden accounts.
Illegal transfers.
The secrets Santiago believed would stay buried forever.
At nine o'clock sharp...
The stock market opened.
By nine fifteen...
Rivas Holdings had lost eighteen percent of its value.
By noon...
It had fallen another thirty-two.
Phones rang nonstop inside corporate headquarters.
Investors demanded answers.
Board members resigned.
International partners suspended negotiations.
The empire Santiago inherited from generations of wealth was collapsing in real time.
Inside the emergency board meeting...
Santiago slammed his fists against the conference table.
"Somebody fix this!"
No one answered.
Finally...
The oldest board member quietly slid a folder across the table.
"We're voting."
Santiago frowned.
"For what?"
"To remove you as CEO."
His chair scraped backward.
"You can't."
"We already have the majority."
He looked around the room.
The executives who once applauded every speech...
Wouldn't even meet his eyes.
The vote was unanimous.
Effective immediately...
Santiago Rivas no longer controlled the company that bore his family name.
And waiting outside the conference room...
Was Ricardo Salazar.
Not as an enemy.
But as the largest secured creditor the company had never publicly disclosed.
Everything had been planned months before.
The rescue agreement contained one final signature line.
May you like
Ricardo signed it.
The Rivas empire officially belonged to Salazar Global.
