Chapter 3 - The Digital Checkmate
Callahan’s tablet, sitting on the edge of the desk, illuminated. A secure video conference call had been patched directly into the executive office.
On the screen was Saraphina.
She looked absolutely radiant. She was sitting on a sun-drenched terrace in Palm Beach, wearing a silk blouse and sipping an iced coffee. There was no trace of the quiet, accommodating wife who used to wait up for him. She looked like a conqueror.
"Good morning, Thatcher," Saraphina said, smiling. "I see you received my paperwork."
Belle gasped, taking a step back from the desk. "Saraphina? What are you doing?"
"I'm evicting you, Belle," Saraphina replied effortlessly, not even bothering to look at the mistress. "And I'm liquidating him."
Thatcher slammed his hands on the desk, standing up. "You can't do this! You stole my house! You drained my Amex!"
"I didn't steal anything," Saraphina corrected gently, her tone terrifyingly calm. "The Greenwich estate was legally mine. The LLC I sold it to is my new holding company. And as for the Amex? I am a secondary cardholder. Four and a half million dollars in Patek Philippe watches is a perfectly legal purchase. I have them in a vault down here. Very liquid. Very untraceable."
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"You're a sociopath," Thatcher hissed.
"No, Thatcher. I am an accountant," she smiled. "While you were ignoring my calls to watch ultrasound screens, I was using the thirty-five million dollars from my 30th birthday trust to buy up every ounce of Sterling Innovations' corporate debt through third-party brokers. I bought it for pennies on the dollar because everyone on Wall Street knows your company is bleeding cash."
