Chapter 5 - The Margin Call
11:37 p.m.
Julian stood up, his face flushing dark red. "Do you have any idea who I am? I’m the managing partner at Apex Capital! My board controls twenty percent of the commercial debt on—"
"Apex Capital," the man in the gray suit interrupted, pulling a small black tablet from his coat, "was declared insolvent four minutes ago."
Julian let out a short, bark-like laugh. "Insolvent? We have four hundred million in liquidity backed by Bank of America!"
"Bank of America was bought out of its short position on your debt at 11:32," the man replied, his voice completely flat. "The primary note holder was Sterling International Trust. Your margin call was issued three minutes ago. You have thirty seconds to cover eighty-two million dollars in cash, Mr. Vance."
Julian’s breath hitched in his throat. He reached for his phone on the table.
The screen was lit up with fifty-two missed calls from his chief financial officer, his managing director in London, and his personal wealth manager at Morgan Stanley.
He opened the first text message from his CFO:
JULIAN. EVERY LINE OF CREDIT IS FROZEN. THE IRS JUST EXECUTED A DISTRESS WARRANT ON THE MIDTOWN OFFICE. DO NOT COME BACK TO THE CITY.
Chloe’s iPad slipped from her hands, hitting the marble floor with a sharp crack that shattered the glass screen.
"Julian..." she whispered, her voice trembling as her own phone began ringing frantically. "My father... my father just got removed from the zoning board. They... they arrested him at his house five minutes ago."
Julian stared at the man in the gray suit, his jaw working silently, his face turning the color of wet chalk.
"Who..." Julian rasped, his voice cracking like dry paper. "Who gave the order?"
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The man in the suit didn't answer. He reached down, picked up Julian’s glass of Macallan, turned it upside down, and poured the twenty-five-year-old whiskey directly onto Julian’s Italian leather shoes.
"Your five minutes are up," the man said.
