Lando’s posture slowly straightened as the priest cleared his throat, trying to regain control of the chaotic cathedral. The trembling stance that had made him look like a broken dog vanished entirely, replaced by an imposing, calculated composure. The quiet intensity in his dark eyes seemed to hold the weight of an entire storm waiting to break.
Julián laughed louder from the front row, crossing his legs as he recorded the proceedings on his smartphone. He wanted every single frame of my public degradation captured in high-definition video to broadcast across every financial news channel by nightfall. He felt completely untouchable sitting behind his security detail and his millions.
Before the priest could recite the traditional wedding vows, Lando reached into the pocket of his tattered jacket. He did not pull out a cheap ring or a crumpled tissue as the crowd expected. Instead, he pulled out a sleek, encrypted satellite phone and pressed a single button on the screen.
“Initiate Protocol Alpha immediately,” Lando said, his voice deep, resonant, and completely devoid of any trembling. The accent was refined, carrying the unmistakable tone of absolute authority that commanded immediate respect. “Execute the short positions on Winslow & Valderrama Investment Group across all global markets right now.”
The entire front row went dead quiet as his words echoed through the cavernous cathedral. Julián stopped laughing, his phone slipping slightly in his hand as he stared at the ragged man standing beside me. The journalists near the back began murmuring, suddenly realizing that something terrifyingly unnatural was unfolding before their eyes.
Within thirty seconds, every cell phone in the front row began vibrating simultaneously with high-priority emergency alerts. Julián’s personal secretary burst through the side doors of the cathedral, her face completely drained of color as she ran toward her boss. She was holding a tablet displaying crashing financial charts that were plunging straight into total liquidation.
“Mr. Winslow, our stock is collapsing!” she screamed, her panic echoing off the vaulted ceilings. “Someone just dumped forty percent of our floating shares onto the Asian exchange! We have lost two billion dollars in less than two minutes!”
Julián leapt to his feet, his arrogant smile shattering into pure terror as he pointed at the man in the dirty suit. Lando looked back at him with a calm, dangerous smile, wiping the soot from his jawline with the back of his hand to reveal a face that every major financial titan on earth recognized instantly.
Read the next page to find out who Lando really was and why he agreed to take part in Julián’s cruel scheme.
