Chapter 4 - Collateral Damage
By noon, the story had leaked.
There are no secrets in the corporate world, especially when blood is spilled at the top.
The financial news networks were having a field day.
Whitmore CEO Ousted in Midnight Scandal.
Embezzlement and Affairs: The Fall of Julian Sterling.
My phone was ringing incessantly with interview requests, but I ignored them all.
I was sitting in my living room, watching moving men pack up Julian's belongings.
I had ordered them to pack everything.
His clothes, his watches, his golf clubs.
I wanted no trace of him left in the house I had paid for.
While the movers worked, the front door swung open.
Julian pushed past the security guard, his face flushed with desperation.
"Victoria! You have to stop this!" he yelled, storming into the living room.
He stopped dead when he saw the cardboard boxes.
"What is this?" he asked, his voice shaking.
"Your exit," I replied, sipping a glass of iced water. "I believe your new apartment downtown—the one you leased for Camila—has plenty of closet space."
"They froze my accounts," Julian said, ignoring the jab. "The company froze everything. Even my personal checking."
"Standard procedure during a fraud investigation," I noted.
"I have nothing, Victoria! I can't even pay for a lawyer!"
He fell to his knees in front of me.
The image was pathetic.
This was the man who had commanded thousands of employees, now begging on the floor of our living room.
"I'm sorry," he cried. "I was stupid. It was a midlife crisis. She meant nothing to me. It was just an ego boost. I love you, Vic. I swear to God, I only love you."
I looked down at him, feeling absolutely nothing.
No anger. No sadness. Just a cold, sterile emptiness.
"If she meant nothing," I said quietly, "then why did you let her take that photo?"
Julian froze.
"She... I was asleep. I didn't know."
"You let her into our life," I corrected. "You gave her the power to humiliate me. You gave a twenty-five-year-old assistant the weapon to destroy a seven-year marriage and a billion-dollar company."
I stood up, stepping away from him.
"You didn't just cheat, Julian. You were careless. And I cannot forgive carelessness."
Before he could respond, my front door opened again.
It was Camila.
She had somehow bypassed the gate.
She looked frantic, clutching a designer handbag that Julian had probably bought for her.
She stopped when she saw Julian on his knees, crying.
The illusion of her powerful, wealthy lover shattered in an instant.
"Julian?" she asked, her voice trembling. "They cancelled my corporate card. I tried to pay for the hotel, but it declined."
Julian turned to look at her.
His face twisted with sudden, violent rage.
"You!" he snarled, standing up and pointing at her. "You ruined my life! Why did you send that damn photo?!"
Camila flinched, stepping back.
"I... I just wanted her to know that you were mine! You said you were going to leave her!"
"I was never going to leave her!" Julian screamed, the truth finally spilling out. "You were a fling! A distraction! You stupid girl, you cost me everything!"
Camila's face crumbled.
She looked at Julian, seeing him clearly for the first time.
Not a knight in shining armor. Not a billionaire savior.
Just a weak, cowardly man who was turning on her the second things got hard.
"You promised me," she whispered, tears streaming down her face.
"Get out!" Julian yelled. "Both of you, just leave me alone!"
I watched the spectacle unfold in my living room, feeling like a spectator at a tragic play.
"Actually," I interrupted, my voice calm and commanding. "This is my house."
I looked at the security guards standing awkwardly by the door.
"Escort them both out," I ordered. "And if they return, call the police for trespassing."
Julian tried to reach for me one last time, but the guard grabbed his arm.
"Come on, buddy. Time to go."
I watched from the window as they were escorted out to the street.
Julian didn't have his company car anymore.
Camila didn't have her Uber Black.
May you like
They stood on the sidewalk, screaming at each other, waiting for a regular taxi.
The great romance had lasted exactly eight hours under the harsh light of reality.
