Chapter 11 - The Oakhill Mandate-11
She walked slowly down the steps, her high heels clicking sharply against the granite until she stood just three feet away from us.
"I wanted to see you before I left for Washington, Mateo," Julianna said, her eyes locking onto my face with a sharp, predatory intensity, the faint, unmistakable scent of her custom lavender perfume filling the air. "You played an incredibly clever game with the server vault override. You broke the local machine, and you managed to protect your little secrets from the state committees. But you made one massive mistake."
"What’s that?" I asked, keeping my voice steady, my gray eyes never leaving her face.
"You left the Senator’s personal legislative archives untouched," Julianna whispered, leaning in close to the partition rail. "You thought my father was just a corrupt politician taking bribes from Truett's firm. But you didn't look at his secondary legislative portfolio. Next month, the State Urban Development Committee is passing a multi-billion-dollar federal eminent domain mandate that covers the entire coastal river basin and your new valley cottage perimeter lands."
She tapped her leather briefcase.
"The Cross Family Trust... the land your father left you, Mateo... it sits right in the dead center of that mandate zone. Under the new federal security statutes, the state government has the legal authority to seize your property for 'critical infrastructure development' without your consent. We might have lost Apex, darling, but by next month, my father's new development syndicate will legally own the ground beneath your home. You won't have a sanctuary left to run to."
May you like
Julianna Croft turned and walked down the steps toward a waiting luxury sedan, her private security detail shielding her from the wind. "Enjoy your little victory while it lasts, Mateo. Because the machine never truly stops. It just changes its name."
Special Agent Harris watched the luxury sedan pull away into the downtown traffic, her face pale with a sudden, violent frustration. "She’s lying, Mateo. They can't use an eminent domain mandate to seize a designated public trust perimeter without years of constitutional litigation in the Supreme Court."
