Chapter 4 - War in the Daylight
At 8:00 AM the following morning, the front pages of every major newspaper in New York and Boston exploded with scandal.
BREAKING: COLE ENTERPRISES CEO CANCELS MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR MERGER WITH HALE GLOBAL. VICTORIA HALE ACCUSED OF ASSAULT AND CORPORATE EMBEZZLEMENT.
Inside the grand penthouse of the Hale Estate in downtown Boston, Senator Richard Hale slammed his crystal coffee cup against the marble table, shattering it into pieces.
Victoria sat across from him, her face ghostly pale, dark circles beneath her eyes. She hadn't slept a second since Nathan’s security detail had thrown her out of the Cole estate at 2:00 AM.
“What did you do, Victoria?!” Senator Hale roared, his face turning an angry purple. “The stock for Hale Global just dropped thirty percent in pre-market trading! Nathan’s legal team filed an emergency injunction freezing all our joint offshore accounts!”
“He found out about the maid!” Victoria shrieked, her fingernails digging into her leather chair. “The maid is Grace Bennett! The girl from five years ago! She brought that bastard child into the house, Dad! She ruined everything!”
“You were supposed to handle it quietly!” Hale spat. “I gave Chief Miller fifty thousand dollars to have that woman arrested on false kidnapping charges last night!”
“Miller failed!” Victoria screamed back. “Nathan had ex-military guards in the kitchen! He protected her! He looked at that little girl like she was made of gold!”
Before Senator Hale could respond, the heavy mahogany doors of his private study were thrown open.
Nathan Cole walked into the penthouse.
He didn't come alone. Behind him stood Arthur Vance, two senior state prosecutors, and four special agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Senator Hale stood up, forcing a practiced, politician’s smile onto his face. “Nathan... my boy. This is a massive misunderstanding. Victoria was distraught last night—"
“Shut up, Richard,” Nathan said quietly.
The sheer ice in Nathan’s tone made the veteran politician freeze in his tracks.
Nathan stepped up to the massive glass desk, tossing a thick black binder onto the polished surface.
“That contains twelve years of forensic accounting records,” Nathan stated, his voice flat and unforgiving. “It shows every dollar you stole from Cole Enterprises. It also includes the Swiss toxicology report from my father’s tissue samples.”
Victoria gasped, pulling her knees to her chest as if she had been struck. “Nathan... no...”
“Harrison Cole didn't die of a heart attack, Richard,” Nathan continued, pointing a finger directly at Victoria. “Your daughter slowly poisoned him over an eight-month period. The FBI has already executed a search warrant on Victoria’s private condo. They found the digital ledger she used to purchase unregulated thallium through offshore pharmaceuticals.”
Senator Hale turned to his daughter, his eyes wild with terror. “Victoria... what did you do?!”
“I did it for us!” Victoria screamed, breaking down into hysterical sobs. “He was going to cancel the merger! He was going to leave us broke! I had to do it!”
Lead FBI Agent Vance stepped forward, pulling a pair of heavy steel handcuffs from his belt.
“Victoria Hale, you are under arrest for first-degree murder, corporate fraud, and conspiracy,” the agent read coldly. “Richard Hale, you are under arrest for grand larceny, extortion, and obstruction of justice.”
As the agents snapped the cuffs around Victoria’s wrists, she twisted violently in their grip, her wild eyes locking onto Nathan.
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“She’s nothing, Nathan!” Victoria screamed as she was dragged toward the door. “That maid is a nobody! You’ll be ruined! Your family name will be garbage!”
Nathan didn't even blink as she was hauled away into the elevator. He turned his back on the Hales forever, walking out into the bright morning sun where his real life was waiting.
