Five years ago, brilliant partner Vivian Hayes was betrayed, drugged, and shoved off a penthouse balcony by her fiancé Julian Mercer and her best friend Gia Thorne to cover up a multi-million-dollar fraud! They thought she was a tragic suicide statistic! They didn’t know she woke up three weeks before her death with the vengeance of a Phoenix and the knowledge of the future! She returned as the anonymous billionaire “Ms. Vesper,” and, in a terrifying public confrontation, she revealed her true identity, BOUGHT THEIR ENTIRE BANK, and had the betrayers arrested on the spot for attempted murder and massive corporate fraud! The jump was fake, but the prison sentence is real! Read how the dead partner just became the new CEO of JUSTICE! 👇
Vivian Hayes was the youngest woman ever to reach partner at Blackwood Capital, a prestigious New York investment bank. She was brilliant, driven, and—fatally—deeply in love with her fiancé, Julian Mercer, the bank’s smooth-talking Head of M&A. Julian, however, was merely a placeholder, a charming face hiding a hollow, greedy ambition.
Vivian’s downfall began when she tried to expose a massive internal fraud scheme Julian and her childhood friend, Gia Thorne, were running. Gia, Vivian’s Chief Compliance Officer, had been feeding Julian the codes and clearances he needed to siphon off client funds.
The climax came in the bank’s opulent penthouse office during a severe thunderstorm. Vivian confronted them with the evidence.
“I gave you everything, Julian,” Vivian pleaded, her heart shattering. “The partnership, the trust…”
Julian only smiled, a cold, predatory flash of teeth. “You gave me access, Vivian. And access is power. You should have stayed naive.”
Gia stepped forward, holding a syringe. “Don’t worry, darling. A massive overdose of proprietary medication. Looks like stress and overwork finally claimed the great Vivian Hayes. Very tragic.”
They injected her, and as the bank’s lights flickered and the thunder crashed, Julian pushed her sedated body out onto the balcony, staging it as a suicide jump from forty-five floors up.
Vivian’s last conscious thought was the agonizing pain of the betrayal and the sound of the wind whipping around the towering buildings. Not this way. I will not let them win.
Vivian woke with a gasp, the smell of fresh linen and expensive coffee filling her nostrils. She wasn’t high above Wall Street, but in her own apartment—her old apartment—in Greenwich Village. She looked down at her hands. They were younger, unblemished by the exhaustion of the partnership track.
She rushed to the calendar: September 15th, 2020. Three weeks before she officially signed the partnership papers that gave Julian the final access he needed. Three weeks before her death.
Vivian Hayes, the naive rising star, was gone. In her place was the Phoenix, reborn with the bitter knowledge of her betrayal. She was back, and she wasn’t here to mend fences; she was here to detonate the entire foundation of their lives.
She immediately began her counter-operation, working in secret under the name “Vesper.”
Vivian acted perfectly normal. She was the devoted fiancée, the hardworking partner. But beneath the surface, she was a wrecking ball.
The Assets: She used her future knowledge of the 2021 market downturns to quietly transfer her entire personal fortune into aggressively short-selling Julian and Gia’s major holdings, maximizing her power while destroying their future liquidity.
The Ally: Knowing the FBI had spent years fruitlessly chasing Blackwood’s internal corruption, Vivian anonymously leaked a single, unassailable data point about a dummy account Julian used—a piece of evidence so small and specific, it led the Bureau to believe they had finally found a loose thread. She maintained no contact, allowing the threat to simmer.
Five Years Later (The Present Timeline).
The setting was the annual Blackwood Capital Charity Gala, a lavish event held at the New York Public Library. Julian, now the Chief Operating Officer, and Gia, the new, high-flying Chief Risk Officer, were the stars. They had survived, but their schemes had made them enemies, and they often clashed publicly. Julian was desperate for a massive infusion of capital to cover a financial black hole.
Vivian arrived, but not as herself. She was the anonymous, elusive “Ms. Vesper,” a venture capitalist who had made billions by betting against the market trends Blackwood had championed.
Julian approached her, his smile strained, desperate for the meeting to secure the funding. “Ms. Vesper. It’s an honor. We’ve heard so much about your… unique success.”
“Mr. Mercer,” Vivian replied, her voice subtly altered, her face obscured by a dramatic, high-fashion mask. “I hear Blackwood is facing some ‘unique’ challenges.”
Gia snickered. “She’s an analyst, Julian, just a genius with numbers. She wouldn’t understand the real risk involved in our high-stakes deals.”
Vivian laughed, a low, confident sound that drew attention. “Oh, but I do, Ms. Thorne. I understand the risk. Especially the risk involved in manipulating asset allocation codes V-74-Alpha and J-03-Beta. That is real risk.”
Julian and Gia froze. Those codes were internal, highly classified numbers only the top five partners knew—and they were the codes they had used to funnel money.
The moment for the grand announcement arrived: Julian was about to introduce the firm’s new primary investor.
Vivian walked silently onto the stage, pulling off her mask. The crowd gasped, but only Julian and Gia recoiled in horror, their faces turning the color of ash.
“Vivian…” Julian whispered, a sound of pure terror. “But… we saw the body. The police ruled it a suicide!”
“The police saw what you made them see, Julian,” Vivian said, stepping to the microphone. “But as you can see, I am quite resilient.”
She turned to the stunned crowd, holding up a sleek, black phone. “Ladies and gentlemen, before Mr. Mercer introduces the supposed new investor, allow me to introduce myself. I am Vivian Hayes, and I am the majority shareholder of the investment fund that was about to acquire a controlling stake in Blackwood Capital.”
The financial titans in the room erupted in confused whispers.
“I didn’t come back to invest, however,” Vivian continued, her voice ringing with steel. “I came back to close. As of ten minutes ago, my team filed a full, public disclosure with the SEC and the NYPD detailing five years of massive corporate fraud committed by Mr. Julian Mercer and Ms. Gia Thorne. The evidence, gentlemen, is now irrefutable, linked to the dummy account the FBI has been watching since 2020.”
She looked directly at Julian and Gia, who were trying desperately to escape through the back door, only to find the firm’s own security detail blocking their path.
“You took my life and my company, Julian. So I bought your company, and I’m taking your freedom.” She slammed her hand down on the podium. “Blackwood Capital is dissolved. Julian Mercer and Gia Thorne are under investigation for fraud, embezzlement, and attempted murder.”
The chaos was immediate. Federal agents flooded the stage, arresting Julian and Gia amidst the horrified screams of socialites and the frantic calls of investors.
Julian looked at Vivian, his eyes pleading. “Vivian, please! We were young! We can fix this! We can be partners!”
Vivian merely smiled—the triumphant, cold smile of a victor. “You are finished, Julian. And I’m just getting started.”
She didn’t wait for the police car sirens. She walked off the stage and into the crisp Manhattan air, shedding the last vestiges of her past life. The Phoenix had risen, and her fire had burned Blackwood to ashes.
