Chapter 6 - The Reality Check
Ethan stared at Elena, his brain struggling to process the impossible math of the situation.
“Elena... what is going on?” Ethan stammered, his voice cracking slightly. “Why are you talking to me like that? Where is President Vance? I need to speak to the executive board—my career, my livelihood—”
“Your career, your livelihood, your leased car, your office on the forty-first floor, and the luxury mansion you’re currently squatting in on Avon Lane belong to Apex Global Capital,” Elena interrupted, her voice ringing clear across the silent lobby. “Which, as you apparently forgot during your little domestic reassignment project last night, is entirely owned by the woman you threw out into the rain with twenty-five hundred dollars.”
The lobby seemed to drop ten degrees.
Ethan staggered backward half a step, colliding with the glass turnstile. “What... what are you talking about? My wife... she’s just... she’s a homemaker! She consults part-time! She doesn't own Vanguard!”
Elena let out a cold, pitying sigh.
“For seven years, Ethan, you believed you married a quiet, unassuming woman who depended on your corporate salary to survive,” Elena said, stepping closer. “You never read the fine print of your own executive employment contract. You never checked who underwrote the venture capital fund that launched your division. And when your wife traveled to Zurich this week, she wasn't visiting friends—she was executing the final buyout of the European competitors that made Vanguard a global monopoly.”
Elena raised her hand, and one of the compliance officers stepped forward, handing her a thick stack of legal documents tied with a red ribbon.
“This,” Elena said, tapping the documents against her palm, “is an emergency notice of lease termination for the property located at 412 Avon Lane, River Oaks. Along with an itemized accounting of corporate embezzlement, fraudulent travel expenses, and unauthorized asset utilization totaling over four hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”
Ethan stared at the papers as if they were venomous snakes.
“No,” he whispered, shaking his head frantically. “No, this is insane. This is a mistake! I’m married to her! We’re a family!”
“You were an employee,” Elena corrected icily. “And your employment has just been terminated with cause.”
Elena turned on her heel, signaling the security guards. “Escort him off the premises. If he attempts to enter the building again, have local law enforcement arrest him for corporate trespassing and industrial espionage.”
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“Wait! Elena, please! Just let me talk to her! Just let me talk to my wife!” Ethan screamed as the two massive security guards grabbed him by the biceps, lifting his feet clean off the polished marble and dragging him backward toward the revolving doors.
“Her name is Madam President to you,” Elena threw over her shoulder as she boarded the private VIP elevator.
