Chapter 9 - The Fall of Horizon
Forty-eight hours later, the financial press in New York and Chicago erupted into chaos.
The headline on the front page of The Wall Street Journal read: HORIZON DEVELOPMENT COLLAPSES FOLLOWING MEMPHIS BID FIASCO; COLEMARK PROPERTIES ACQUIRES TWO-BILLION-DOLLAR WATERFRONT PROJECT.
Victor Mercer had taken the poisoned USB drive, believed the inflated bid figures, and submitted a reckless, astronomical bid that consumed all of his company's liquid reserves and triggered massive bank loan defaults. When Ethan Cole revealed his true, winning bid—calculated with precision—Mercer's lenders panicked, calling in over four hundred million dollars in debt simultaneously.
By Friday afternoon, Victor Mercer had surrendered his corporate board seat, his company was placed into federal receivership, and Colemark Properties purchased Horizon's assets for pennies on the dollar.
In his corner office on the top floor of the Colemark Tower, Ethan sat at his desk, watching the news broadcast on his wall monitor.
There was no joy in his victory over Mercer. It was simply business—a necessary clearing of weeds from the garden.
The real battle was happening seven hundred miles away in Boston.
Ethan stood up, closed his laptop, and walked out of his office. His executive assistant looked up in surprise.
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"Mr. Cole? You have a board strategy meeting in twenty minutes."
"Cancel it," Ethan said smoothly, pulling his wool coat over his shoulders. "I have a flight to catch."
