The conference room was so silent you could hear the microscopic clicks of the junior bankers' abacuses. Their gears were whirring, but their faces were pale.
Director Vane wasn't moving. She was staring at me, her metronome voice silenced by a single decimal point.
"Well, Director?" I said, taking a slow sip of my tea. "You've spent your life auditing people for a living. How does it feel to be on the receiving end of a Compound-Interest Reclamation?"
Vane cleared her throat. The sound was dry, like old sandpaper. "Lady Lexen. This... historical correction... is within the margin of error."
"A margin of error of four million dragons?" I laughed, a sharp, cold sound. "That's not an error, Vane. That's a corporate policy. And right now, the policy is that you are defaulting on my estate."
I stood up, pulling a new set of scrolls from my brief-case. I'd been preparing this for three days, ever since I first saw the Sovereign Bank of Valos's compliance ship on the horizon.
"Here is the 'Final Settlement' offer," I said, sliding the paperwork toward her. "I don't just want my one-million-dragon profit. I want the Exclusive Trade-Finance Rights for the entire Southern Isles."
Vane's eyes widened. "The Southern Isles? The Bank of Valos controls 70% of that market!"
"Not anymore," I said, a dangerous smirk spreading across my face. "I just realized you have the same 12.5% usury issue in every maritime loan you've signed in these waters for the last five years. If I publish my full 'Sovereign Bank Usury Report' tonight, I won't just own your debt. I'll own your entire maritime division."
Kaelen nearly fell out of his chair. He looked at me, then at the terrified bankers, then back at me with a look of pure, unadulterated awe. "Elara... you aren't just auditing a bank. You're hostile-takeover-ing a continent."
Director Vane's hand trembled. She looked at the paper, then at me, then out the window at the high-tech compliance ship that had just become an enormous, sinking liability.
She picked up the quill. "The Board of Directors... will not be pleased."
"The Board of Directors should be happy I didn't audit their personal expense accounts," I retorted, watching as she signed. "Tell them their new business partner looks forward to the next quarterly review. And remind them that the 'Auditor's Audit' carries a 2% convenience fee for swift payment."
As the sun set, the Sovereign Bank of Valos didn't raise the Black Sun flag over the lighthouse. They began unloading three million dragons of gold onto the dock. My island was no longer a secret pirate haven. It was the financial center of the Southern Seas. And I was the one holding the keys.