The door to Box 1 opened, and the atmosphere, already taut with Elizabeth’s presence, shifted into something brittle. Julian Sterling stepped inside. He had wiped the sweat from his brow, replaced his frantic expression with a mask of weary wisdom, and straightened his posture. He was a man who had built an empire, and he wasn’t about to let a group of twenty-somethings see him crumble.

"Gentlemen," Sterling said, his voice projecting a forced warmth. He moved through the room, offering a firm handshake to Marcus and a respectful nod to Adrian and Noah. "It’s been quite a busy weekend. I see the youth of Veyra is finally taking its place at the head of the table."

Leon stood by the window, his arms crossed, giving Julian a look of pure disdain. Sterling ignored it, his eyes immediately locking onto the woman in gold.

"And Ms. Roys," Sterling said, bowing his head slightly lower than he had for the others. "An unexpected pleasure. I didn’t realize the Commander’s family had such a keen interest in... contemporary acquisitions." He paused, his eyes searching hers for a hint of her role here. ’Is she here as an observer for the state, or has Rivers somehow bought a seat in the Roys’ inner circle?’

Elizabeth offered a polite, shallow smile that revealed absolutely nothing. "I’m just here for the auction, Julian. The Meridian has always been a place of interest for my family." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Sterling felt a chill. Her answer was a non-answer, the most dangerous kind in Veyra.

"Please sit," Jake said, gesturing to the chair opposite him.

Sterling sat, leaning back to maintain an air of seniority. "You guys have made quite a splash recently. The news, the seizures... it’s all very theatrical. But between us men, wasn’t this all a bit excessive? We’re all professionals. We didn’t need to go this far without even trying to talk things out first."

"I believe you had all the time in the world to talk things out with Darius Rivers," Jake replied, his voice calm. "He sat in that CEO chair for years. I don’t recall him mentioning any invitations for coffee during that time."

Sterling waved a hand dismissively. "Market complexities, Jake. Darius is a man of a different era. He didn’t understand that for the ecosystem to thrive, sometimes the canopy needs to be pruned. It was never personal."

’Pruned?’ Noah thought, his eyes flashing. ’You were trying to chop the whole tree down and turn it into firewood.’

"The ’pruning’ has been quite expensive lately," Adrian interjected, his eyes cold. "The Meridian Group’s valuation was at four hundred and fifteen billion marks just last month. Four hundred billion for the steel refinery alone, and another fifteen billion in other assets. Now? The ticker shows three hundred and ten billion. That’s a hundred and five billion mark ’misunderstanding,’ Julian."

Sterling leaned forward, a sharp glint in his eyes. "Ninety-six billion, actually," he corrected silkily. "Unless we’re ignoring the nine billion you snatched right out from under my nose last week. You certainly moved fast on that one."

Leon didn’t miss a beat. "Nine billion is a drop in the bucket, Sterling. Besides, that belonged to Jake to begin with. You were just holding it for him without his permission."

Sterling let out a dry, humorless chuckle. "Belonged to him? Perhaps. But let’s talk about what belongs to the public. The market didn’t drop just because I ’whispered’ to the press. It dropped because Darius Rivers’s own son tried to smuggle a billion marks’ worth of narcotics under the guise of an art shipment for this very gallery. When the heir to a steel empire is trading in white powder, the stock tends to bleed."

The room remained silent. Sterling felt a momentary surge of triumph; he had reminded them that he still held the narrative by the throat.

Marcus leaned forward, a shark-like grin on his face. "And we all know how the weather turned so sour for that stock. Someone’s been whispering very loudly in the ears of the press, and someone else has been betting very heavily that the price will keep falling. It’s funny how that shipment was intercepted right when you needed a catalyst for the short-sell, Julian."

Sterling didn’t flinch. He knew they couldn’t prove the manipulation in a room without a subpoena. "The market is a fickle beast. If the public loses faith in a CEO’s family, the price reflects that. If you want the stock to recover, you simply need to install a leader the market trusts. Someone with... experience."

Elizabeth watched the exchange, her mind sharp. ’Sterling is playing the age card,’ she noted. ’He’s trying to frame his theft as ’experience’ and their defense as ’youthful aggression.’ But he’s missing the fact that Jake isn’t reacting to his seniority at all. He’s treating Sterling like a ledger entry that needs to be balanced.’

"We agree that the stock needs to recover," Jake said. "Which is why you need to stop your operation on The Meridian Group immediately. The shorting, the media pressure, the attempts to force a sale at the lowest market rate—it all ends tonight."

Sterling’s composure cracked for a split second. "Stop the operation? Jake, I’ve committed significant resources to ensuring the transition of Meridian is handled properly. To withdraw now... the ’fees’ associated with such a reversal would be catastrophic. I’d lose billions. I might even face a liquidity crisis."

"You should have thought about the cost of the exit before you walked through the door," Leon muttered from the corner.

Sterling shot Leon a sharp look. "You’re young, Hart. You think business is just about who has the bigger hammer. You don’t realize that if I go down, I take a lot of infrastructure with me. The Commander wouldn’t like that."

He glanced at Elizabeth again, trying to use her presence as a shield. She didn’t blink.

"We aren’t asking you to go down, Julian," Adrian said, his voice dropping an octave. "We’re asking you to find a middle ground. You want your liquidity back? You want the Aurelia seizures to melt away?"

"Of course," Sterling said.

"Then we need to discuss the ’broken glass,’" Jake said, using the riddle they all understood. "The ninety-six billion marks in lost value didn’t just disappear into thin air. It’s sitting in your short positions. If you can’t stop the operation, then you need to hand over the ’tools’ you’re using to conduct it."

Sterling stared at Jake, the gravity of the demand finally sinking in. They weren’t just asking for a ceasefire; they were asking for his surrender. They wanted his shares in the Meridian Group. They intended to hijack his own momentum, using the panic he had created to swallow the company whole and leave him with nothing but a check and a bruised ego.

’They’re trying to strip me naked in my own city,’ Sterling thought, a surge of old-world fury rising in his chest. ’I’ve been running Veyra since they were in diapers. I’ve survived coups and market crashes, and now I’m being lectured by children.’

"I can’t just hand over my stake," Sterling hissed, his voice trembling with suppressed rage. "That refinery is the backbone of the country’s steel production. You don’t just ’hand over’ an industry."

"And right now, your own company is at stake," Noah reminded him, his voice casual but lethal. "By Monday morning, the full effects of the Aurelia seizures will be felt. Your stock will plummet, and your banks will be breathing down your neck for collateral you no longer have. You’ll be lucky if you still own the suit you’re wearing."

Sterling let out a harsh, jagged laugh. "You talk about seizures as if they’re free. Don’t sit there and pretend this little stunt isn’t costing you. You’ve frozen assets that generate revenue for your own firms. You’re burning millions in interest and legal fees every hour this stalemate continues. You’re bleeding right along with me."

Leon leaned back, a cold, mocking smile playing on his lips. "Millions? Julian, do you really think we’re counting the pennies? We can afford to bleed. We have the backing of trillions of marks and the patience of a glacier." He leaned forward slightly, his eyes locking onto Sterling’s. "The question isn’t whether we’re losing money. The question is: do you honestly believe you can hold out longer than us?"

Sterling ground his teeth so hard his jaw ached. He looked at Leon’s smug expression and then at Jake’s unmoving silhouette. He knew the math. Leon was right. For Aurelia Capitals, this was an expensive hobby; for Sterling Infrastructure, it was a death sentence. They could outspend his entire net worth just to prove a point, and they wouldn’t even have to cancel their dinner plans to do it.

"Under your ’pruning,’ the backbone of Meridian is snapping," Marcus added, leaning forward until he was inches from Sterling’s face, his voice a low growl. "You’ve spent the last week telling the world that Darius Rivers is unfit to lead. You’ve poisoned the well so thoroughly that even the investors who like you are terrified. If you stay in, the market will think you’re part of the rot. But if you leave—if you let us take the reins—the price will hit four hundred billion again by Monday morning. You get your liquidity, we get the company, and the country gets its steel."

Sterling looked around the room, feeling the walls of Box 1 closing in. The roar of the auction crowd below felt a world away, leaving him alone with four sharks and a silent princess who was watching him drown.

Elizabeth looked at Jake, then at the four men behind him. They were a wall of silent, focused intent. Sterling was a lone wolf, aged and cornered, still trying to growl at a pack that had already tasted his blood.

"You have until the end of the second part of the auction to decide, Julian," Jake said, standing up. "I have another meeting to attend. When I come back, I expect to see progress. Otherwise, the third part of the auction won’t be about art—you might want to add in a few of your own assets to liquidate while you can still cash them for a fair price."

Sterling watched Jake walk toward the door. The boy didn’t even look back. The sheer arrogance of it stung more than the financial threat. But as Sterling looked at Marcus, Adrian, Noah, and Leon—all still staring at him with cold, expectant eyes—he realized that the "middle ground" was a cliff, and he was already falling.

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