Chapter 5 - The Begging Game
“Eviction?” Olivia shrieked, slamming her hands on the table. “I built this company! My husband built this company! You are nothing but a vindictive little girl playing dress-up with someone else’s money!”
Marcus stepped forward, placing a thick stack of legal documents onto the table.
“Actually, Mrs. Sterling,” Marcus said smoothly, “you didn't build it. You inherited it, and then you leveraged it to the brink of bankruptcy to fund your personal lifestyle. Devereux Holdings purchased your debt six months ago. When you violated the morality and federal compliance clauses last night, all debts became instantly callable.”
Olivia stared at the papers as if they were venomous snakes.
“You owe Devereux Holdings two hundred and forty million dollars,” Marcus continued. “As collateral, we now possess the controlling shares of Sterling Corp, this building, and all personal properties listed under the corporate umbrella.”
Ethan looked at me, his eyes wide with a desperate kind of terror.
“Clara... you’re destroying my family.”
“No, Ethan,” I corrected him. “Your mother destroyed this family. I just stopped paying for the privilege of watching her do it.”
Ethan suddenly dropped to his knees right there in the boardroom.
“I’ll leave her,” he blurted out.
Olivia gasped, clutching her chest. “Ethan!”
“I will!” Ethan pleaded, crawling a few inches closer to me. “I’ll cut her off. We don't need her. It can just be you and me, Clara. Just like we planned. We can get married. I love you. I swear I love you!”
I looked down at the man who had stood by while my parents were shoved into a pool. The man who had mocked my father’s honest work.
“You’d sell your own mother out to keep your credit cards active,” I observed, my voice laced with disgust. “That’s not love, Ethan. That’s survival of a parasite.”
I stood up.
“You have one hour to clear out your personal items from this office,” I announced. “Federal agents will be waiting in the lobby to ensure you don't take any corporate assets. Your company cars have been impounded. I suggest you call a cab.”
“You can’t do this!” Olivia screamed, tears finally spilling over her heavy mascara, ruining her face. “My friends in society won't stand for this! They will ruin you! They know me!”
I smiled, a genuine, terrifying smile.
“Olivia, who do you think funds their charities? Who do you think holds their mortgages? Your society friends have been texting me since midnight, offering to testify against you to save their own portfolios.”
Her jaw dropped. The last pillar of her pride crumbled into dust.
“You are a monster,” she whispered.
May you like
“No,” I replied, turning my back on them. “I’m just the girl who designs the charity brochures. Remember?”
I walked out of the boardroom without looking back, leaving the sounds of Ethan’s sobs and Olivia’s screams echoing behind me.
