Chapter 6 - The Broken Partnership
The euphoric smile on Julian’s face froze.
He set his scotch glass down on the polished glass surface of his desk, his eyes narrowing slightly as he tried to gauge my expression.
"Aegis Shield?" Julian forced a small, nervous laugh. "Marcus, what are you talking about? That's just the background encryption protocol we installed for the Vanderbilt deal security compliance. What does that have to do with anything?"
I walked up to his desk, pulled my laptop out of my leather briefcase, and turned the screen toward him.
On the display was the master audit log from the carrier server stack, showing Device ID SB-EXEC-02—his personal iPad—creating Rule #104 on October 15. Below it were the three intercepted audio files from Rosalie.
Julian stared at the screen. The color slowly drained from his face, leaving him looking sickly and pale under the bright recessed LED lights of his office.
"You blocked my wife's phone calls, Julian," I said, my voice dropping into a register so cold it didn't even sound human. "You intercepted her voicemails telling me she was pregnant. You let me sign divorce papers thinking she had abandoned me, while she was sitting in Savannah carrying my son."
Julian swallowed hard, taking a slow step backward behind his desk. "Marcus... listen to me—"
"Why?" I snapped, slamming my hand onto his glass desk with a deafening CRACK that echoed through the room. "Why the hell did you do it?"
"Because you were falling apart!" Julian yelled, his composure finally shattering as he raised his hands defensively. "In October, we were two weeks away from securing the preliminary term sheet with Vanderbilt! You were already distracted! You were coming in late, you were arguing with Rosalie every night, and if she had told you she was pregnant, you would have pulled out of the deal entirely to go run off and play family!"
"She was my wife!" I roared, stepping around the desk, grabbing Julian by his lapels, and slamming him against the glass window wall overlooking downtown Atlanta. "He is my son!"
"It was a billion-dollar deal, Marcus!" Julian screamed back, his eyes wild with terror as he struggled against my grip. "A once-in-a-lifetime deal! You spent ten years building this company! I wasn't going to let a emotional domestic distraction ruin everything we worked for! I was saving you from yourself!"
"You didn't save me," I whispered, leaning in until my face was inches from his trembling jaw. "You destroyed my life."
I let go of his jacket. Julian collapsed back against the window, breathing heavily, straightening his silk tie with shaking fingers.
"I’m calling Vanderbilt's board in five minutes," I said, stepping back toward the door. "I’m pulling Callahan & Vance out of the development agreement."
Julian’s eyes widened in absolute, paralyzing horror. "Are you insane? You can't do that! You'll ruin the firm! Vanderbilt will sue us for breach of faith! We'll be bankrupted!"
"Then we'll be bankrupted," I said coldly. "And tomorrow morning at 8:00 AM, my personal attorney is filing criminal charges against you for illegal wiretapping, computer fraud, and interception of private communications."
"Marcus, please!" Julian begged, rushing around his desk, dropping all his corporate arrogance as he fell to his knees near the doorway. "Don't do this! We’ve been friends since college! I did it for the firm! I'll resign! I'll transfer my equity shares to you! Just sign the Vanderbilt deal! Don't throw away nine hundred million dollars over a mistake!"
I looked down at the man who had been my best friend for fifteen years. I felt no anger left—only a vast, cold emptiness.
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"I didn't throw away nine hundred million dollars, Julian," I said, stepping over his outstretched hand and opening the door. "You traded my family for it."
I walked out of the office, leaving him kneeling on the floor of his empty glass kingdom.
