Chapter 8 - Total Collapse
By 2:00 PM that afternoon, news of Marcus Mercer’s arrest swept across Wall Street like a wildfire.
BLoomberg News Headline: Mercer Logistics CEO Arrested at Rhodes Capital HQ for Multi-Million Dollar Federal Fraud Scheme.
Mercer Logistics stock plummeted by 94% within forty-five minutes of the news release. Trading was officially halted by the New York Stock Exchange before the market closed. Bank creditors moved instantly to seize all corporate assets, fleet trucks, and real estate holdings to cover Marcus’s unpaid loans.
At Marcus’s ten-million-dollar penthouse in Tribeca, federal marshals arrived with asset forfeiture seizure warrants.
Chloe Vance was in the middle of packing three luxury leather suitcases full of designer clothes and jewelry when federal officers knocked down the front door.
"What are you doing?!" Chloe screamed as agents began placing evidence tags on her designer bags, her luxury watches, and the six-carat diamond ring on her finger. "This is my personal property! Marcus bought this for me!"
"Everything purchased with proceeds from illegal wire transfers is subject to immediate federal seizure, Miss Vance," the lead marshal informed her coldly, pulling the giant diamond ring right off her manicured finger. "You have fifteen minutes to collect your personal clothing and exit the premises. The building is officially sealed."
Panic-stricken and weeping hysterically, Chloe grabbed her phone and tried calling Marcus’s high-priced criminal defense attorneys, but every line went straight to voicemail. No attorney would take the case without a massive cash retainer—and Marcus didn't have a single liquid dollar left.
Desperate, Chloe ran down to the street, clutching a single plastic trash bag containing her basic clothes. She hailed a taxi and drove straight to the Manhattan Detention Complex, where Marcus was being held without bail pending his arraignment.
When Marcus was brought out to the visitor booth behind the thick glass window, he looked completely destroyed. His suit had been replaced by an orange jumpsuit, his hair was messy, and his eyes were hollow.
"Marcus!" Chloe cried, pressing her hands against the glass. "You have to get us out of this! The feds took the penthouse! They took my ring! They took everything! Where is the offshore money?!"
Marcus stared at her through the glass, a bitter, hollow laugh escaping his dry lips.
"There is no offshore money, Chloe," Marcus rasped, his voice dead. "It was all leverage. It was all debt."
Chloe froze, her tear-stained face hardening into pure rage. "What?! You told me you were worth fifty million dollars!"
"I told you what you wanted to hear so you’d stay on my arm!" Marcus yelled back, slamming his hand against the partition. "You didn't love me! You loved my money! And now you’re running the second the ship sinks!"
"You lied to me!" Chloe spat, her voice filled with disgust. "You’re a pathetic, fraudster loser! Leaving Evelyn for you was the biggest mistake of my life!"
Chloe stood up, turned her back on him, and walked out of the visitor room without looking back once.
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Marcus sat alone in the dim room, staring at his reflection in the glass. The words he had smugly uttered to Evelyn at the wedding echoed in his mind like a twisted, cruel joke:
“Leaving you was the smartest thing I ever did.”
