Chapter 5 - The Confrontation at Berth 4
The salty breeze of the Gulf Coast whipped through the towering steel cranes of Berth 4 as Julian Vance’s black convoy rolled directly past the security checkpoints. Workers and master shipwrights paused their welding torches, lifting their protective masks to watch the arrival of the Vance brothers—and me, walking steadily beside them in my tailored charcoal coat. Waiting by the dry dock edge was Viktor Petrov, a ruthless Russian syndicate representative who had financed Bianca’s secret buyout of the shipyard shares. Petrov stood flanked by four towering bodyguards in dark suits, smiling with cold arrogance as he twirled a gold-plated fountain pen between his fingers. "Julian, my friend!" Petrov called out in accented, booming English, stepping forward with his hand extended. "I hear your engagement party had some... unexpected structural failures." Julian did not take his hand. Instead, he stopped two paces away, his towering frame casting a long, intimidating shadow across the concrete pier. "Viktor," Julian replied, his voice dangerously low. "You are standing on sovereign Vance territory without an invitation. And your proxy has just been remanded to federal custody." Petrov’s smile faltered for a fraction of a second before he recovered, gesturing toward the half-built hull of an oil tanker behind him. "Paperwork is paperwork, Vance. My capital secured forty percent of this dock through Miss Moretti’s legal mandate. You can arrest her, but you cannot erase the contract." Julian turned his head slightly, glancing down at me. "Elena. Translate." I stepped forward, my voice ringing clear and steady against the roar of the shipyard machinery. Addressing Petrov directly in fluent, flawless Russian, I recited the exact legal clauses of the maritime charter, pointing out the forged clauses and invalid jurisdictional stamps that rendered his contract null and void under international maritime law. Petrov’s face drained of color as he realized not only was his trap broken, but he was completely outmatched on every legal and linguistic front.
