The news spread fast through every financial outlet by midmorning, Holt Industrial's stock dropping nearly forty percent within hours of the SEC's formal antitrust filing becoming public, and Ivy watched the story unfold from her desk with a strange, complicated satisfaction that felt less like triumph and more like something finally, properly settling into place.

Sterling called midday, his voice carrying a controlled energy Ivy hadn't heard from him in weeks. "The board's already moving to distance themselves. Holt Industrial's own shareholders are demanding his resignation, effective immediately, before the federal charges do any more damage to the company's remaining value."

"Is that enough," Ivy asked. "For all of it....