Chapter 5 - The Final Liquidation
The projector screen did not show Adrien's carefully manicured PowerPoint.
It showed the photograph Serena had texted me. A massive, high-definition projection of the mistress in my bed, wearing my ring.
The board members gasped. Serena let out a strangled, humiliating sound, covering her face with her hands. Adrien turned the color of ash, physically stumbling backward into the whiteboard.
"Maya, please," Adrien begged, his voice cracking, the polished showman completely dissolving into a terrified, pathetic boy. "Don't do this. Turn it off."
"I'm not interested in your sex life, Adrien," I said, my voice cutting through his pleas like a scalpel. I tapped a button on a remote.
The image zoomed in, magnifying the background. It magnified the monitors. It magnified the Cayman Islands routing numbers and the forged IP transfer documents.
"I am, however, highly interested in corporate espionage and wire fraud," I continued.
Marcus Vance began passing thick, bound dossiers to the horrified board members.
"What you are looking at, gentlemen," Marcus Vance stated, his voice a low, terrifying rumble, "is irrefutable evidence of a criminal conspiracy. Mr. Cole and Ms. Vale have embezzled four point two million dollars over the past eighteen months. Furthermore, the document Mr. Cole just asked you to sign is a fraudulent transfer designed to steal Project Ares and sell it to a foreign competitor."
"That's a lie!" Serena screamed, standing up, tears ruining her perfect makeup. She pointed a shaking finger at Adrien. "He made me do it! I didn't know what the shell company was for! He told me it was a tax shelter!"
"Shut up, Serena!" Adrien roared, his carefully crafted mask entirely gone, revealing the cornered, desperate rat beneath. He turned back to me, dropping to his knees on the carpet. "Maya, please! I'm sorry! We can fix this! I'll give it all back! You're the love of my life!"
I looked down at the weeping, broken man who had humiliated me in front of two hundred people. I felt absolutely nothing.
"You threw away the love of your life to impress a room full of people who don't care about you," I said softly. "Now, you are going to federal prison."
I nodded to the two federal agents. They stepped forward.
"Adrien Cole," the lead agent said, pulling a pair of steel handcuffs from his belt. "You are under arrest for federal wire fraud, corporate espionage, and grand larceny."
"No! No, please!" Adrien sobbed as they hauled him to his feet, yanking his arms behind his back.
"Wait!" Evelyn Cole cried out, rushing forward, her aristocratic composure completely shattered, looking like a desperate, terrified old woman. "You can't do this! We are the Coles! We have a legacy!"
"Your legacy is a Cayman Island bank account that the FBI froze at 8:00 a.m. this morning, Evelyn," I said, looking her dead in the eye. "You are broke. The country club is going to repossess your membership by noon. And your son is facing twenty years."
As they dragged Adrien out of the boardroom, he screamed my name. Serena was weeping hysterically, being read her rights by a third agent who had just entered the room.
May you like
I didn't watch them leave. I turned back to the remaining board members, who were sitting in stunned, terrified silence, staring at me as if I were a god who had just leveled a city.
"Gentlemen," I said, taking my seat at the absolute head of the slate table, smoothing the lapels of my Saint Laurent suit. "The CEO position is currently vacant. I will be assuming the role effectively immediately. Now, let's get back to work."
