Chapter 9 The Ambush

They called it a press conference. I called it a firing squad.

The ballroom at the Zürich Conference Centre was packed - more lights, more cameras, more microphones than I'd ever seen aimed at a single podium. Reporters jostled for position, their lenses like hungry eyes. Victor Lang stood behind a sleek black lectern, smiling as if he were announcing a charity gala. Beside him, a lawyer in a too-stiff suit held a stack of folders like a threat wrapped in paper.

GreenSphere's name flashed across screens in the room and on the live streams. My chest felt cold and hollow, a hollow that my training and stubbornness couldn't fill. Damian's hand found the small hollow of my lower back as we walked in; the touch was brief but steady. We took our places at the side table - me in my navy suit, hair pulled back hard, face set like stone. He gave my hand a fractional squeeze, and then let go.

Lang smiled and began.

"Good morning," he said, all calm, all practiced. "I've called you here because of serious irregularities at GreenSphere Innovations and possible collusion between certain parties to manipulate market value and misrepresent regulatory compliance." He paused and let the words land. The cameras hungrily lapped them up.

He gestured to the lawyer. The lawyer stepped forward and unloaded a series of documents - charts, red-flagged transactions, emails. The headline was already being typed in reporters' heads. "We have filed complaints with Swiss regulators and initiated an inquiry. We believe immediate action from shareholders and regulators is necessary to protect investors."

My face felt thin, stretched over a skeleton. I wanted to laugh at the theater of it. I wanted to stand up and shout that his "evidence" was a house of cards. But the room was a storm, and I was one person in the eye.

Damian stepped forward with practiced ease, his baritone even. "Victor, are you done?" he asked.

Lang's smile stayed professional. "Mr. Cross, this is serious." He flicked a hand toward the files. "You and Ms. Grant have engaged in behavior unbecoming of public companies."

A chorus of questions rose. Reporters shouted. Microphones leaned in like tongues. I could see my face on the screens - calm, eyes focused, but I felt each accusation like a bullet grazing past.

Ripples of uncertainty rolled through the crowd. Investors whispering into phones. Live feeds splicing in pundits speculating. The song of chaos.

When Lang finished, there was a beat - a breath where the world seemed to hold itself. Then the moderator opened the floor for questions, and the pack pounced.

Damian remained a composed island. He answered with measured facts, legalese artfully deployed. But his answers weren't enough to stall the machine. Lang's people had primed the press. The narrative was already bleeding.

Finally, I couldn't stand it. Sitting there, letting someone else frame my life's work with innuendo, was not an option. I rose before anyone expected and walked to the podium.

Microphones converged. The room quieted in that way it does when something genuinely unexpected happens. Cameras swivelled. My heartbeat rattled at the base of my throat but my voice came out steady when I spoke.

"Good morning," I said, and meant it. "You've heard a lot of allegations today. I want to be blunt. Victor Lang's presentation is theatrics built on selective leakage and malice." I let that sit. "GreenSphere has always operated within the law. Our filings are transparent. Our investors are informed. What we have here is an attempt to strip away years of work with a pile of papers and a whisper campaign."

Some reporters shifted, sensing a counter-narrative. Lang's lawyer bristled, but I was just warming up.

"You'll see, if you look at the full records, that the transactions cited were part of our routine restructuring in anticipation of Project Helios' roll-out. We engaged third-party auditors, clearances were requested and given, and at no point was there intent to mislead. To suggest otherwise is not just inaccurate - it's defamatory."

A flash of cameras. Someone shouted, "Can you prove it?"

"Yes," I said. "We can." I had expected the question. I had planned for today. We'd prepped: audited reports, timestamps, regulatory emails, notarized signatures. The team had worked through the night to compile a dossier. I stepped back from the mic and Damian handed me a sealed folder - the one we'd agreed would be our truth. I opened it, palms steady, and began to read the highlights, not the legalese but the narrative: dates, correspondences, the auditor's names, regulatory clearances.

As I spoke names and timestamps, the atmosphere shifted. Lang's confident smile thinned into a mask. Reporters who'd been primed for scandal now scribbled new notes, their posture changing from anticipation to curiosity. This was a chess game - and for the first time that morning, I felt like I'd taken the lead.

Lang's lawyer attempted to interject with legal pedantry, but Damian cut him off with a quiet assertion: "If Mr. Lang has evidence beyond hearsay, file it with regulators. If not, he's manufacturing a crisis." He didn't shout. He didn't have to. The weight of his presence, coupled with the facts I'd just presented, pushed the crowd off its balance.

A reporter in the back snapped a question about a specific transaction Marcus had touched. My throat tightened. Marcus's name was poison. I could feel it. But I didn't flinch. "We are aware of Marcus Hale's activities," I said. "We've initiated an internal review, and we will cooperate with regulators fully. If any wrongdoing occurred, we will hold those individuals accountable."

That got a reaction. Marcus's face was visible on a livestream - pale, too controlled. I had to remind myself not to gloat.

Lang's parting shot was a promise of litigation, but the tenor had shifted. Viewers around the globe had seen both sides. In the flurry after the podium emptied, cameras sought reactions - mine, Damian's. Investors texted. The market moved in small jittery waves.

Backstage, the world rushed in like a current. Damian's hand closed around my wrist and squeezed. "You were brilliant," he murmured.

"You think?" I asked, voice thin with adrenaline.

"I know." His eyes were unreadable for a moment, then softer. "You told the truth. That's more powerful than any PR spin."

I exhaled, the breath shaking. "We still have Marcus to deal with."

"We do." He turned his face toward the media scrum forming in the hall. "And Lang. But for now, we hold steady."

Sofia called as soon as I picked up my phone. "The feeds picked up your evidence. Social's flipping.