Chapter 3 - THE DEMOLITION OF AN EMPIRE
By noon, the estate looked less like a luxury home and more like a crime scene.
Two black SUVs from my corporate security detail were parked across the circular driveway. Marcus Hensley—Veronica’s arrogant, freeloading brother who lived off my investments—was standing near the front gate shouting obscenities at the guards because they wouldn't let him drive his sports car off the property with three flat-screen TVs he had unbolted from the guest rooms.
Inside the study, the atmosphere was suffocating.
Richard Vance sat across from my mahogany desk, sweating profusely through his bespoke Italian suit. He kept dabbing his forehead with a handkerchief, his eyes darting toward the open door where two armed security guards stood at attention.
“Sebastian, let’s be reasonable,” Richard stammered, sliding a gold fountain pen across the desk. “Emotions are running high. What happened to your mother is regrettable, but a public scandal will tank the upcoming hotel merger in Zurich. Think of the shareholders!”
I sat behind the desk, slowly turning a heavy silver paperweight between my fingers.
“Shareholders?” I asked quietly. “Richard, you drafted fraudulent guardianship papers behind my back, conspiring with my wife to imprison an elderly woman in her own home. Did you really think I cared about a hotel merger more than my mother?”
“I was just following Veronica’s instructions—”
“You were acting as my legal counsel!” I slammed the paperweight down, the loud thud making Richard jump in his chair. “Every contract you touched for the last five years is currently being audited by a federal forensic team. By nightfall, your name will be submitted to the state bar association for disbarment, and your personal assets will be frozen under federal investigation for financial fraud against an incapacitated dependent.”
Richard’s face turned the color of ash. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.
“Sign the resignation,” I commanded, pointing at the documents.
With trembling fingers, Richard picked up the gold pen and scribbled his signature onto the termination and disbarment paperwork. He didn't look up as the security guards stepped forward, hoisted him by his shoulders, and escorted him off the property, tossing his briefcase onto the gravel driveway behind him.
Outside, Veronica was screaming as her designer luggage was loaded into the back of a standard yellow cab rather than her luxury SUV. She tried to rush back toward the front porch, but the guards formed an impenetrable barrier.
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“You’ll regret this, Sebastian!” she shrieked, her makeup running from tears of rage. “You’re a cold, unfeeling monster! You’ll never see another woman love you!”
“I never needed another woman to love me,” I muttered to myself, watching from the second-floor window as the cab sputtered down the driveway. “I only needed to protect the one who gave me everything.”
