Chapter 8 - A Voice from the Cage
Claire’s heart slammed against her ribs, but her face remained a mask of pure, untouchable stone. She offered Julian a cold, terrifying smile. "I will burn this company to the ground before I hand you a single brick."
She turned her back on him and walked out of the gala.
By the time Claire reached her armored sedan, Mara was already inside, furiously typing on her encrypted laptop.
"He's not bluffing," Mara said, her voice shaking. "I just found the promissory note hidden in a subsidiary ledger. Ethan forged your signature on the corporate guarantee. If Julian calls the debt, we default immediately."
Claire’s phone buzzed in her purse. The caller ID displayed the automated prompt of a federal penitentiary.
Claire answered it.
"Did you meet him yet?" Ethan’s voice crackled over the line, devoid of his usual arrogance, replaced by a frantic, pathetic desperation.
"You sold my company to a loan shark, Ethan," Claire hissed, her grip on the phone tightening until her knuckles turned white.
"I didn't have a choice!" Ethan sobbed through the static. "Julian came to me a year ago. He gave me the blueprint to steal your father’s money. He said if I followed his plan, we could split the empire. But he double-crossed me, Claire! He gave the FBI the ledgers to put me in here so he could take you down himself! He wants your legacy. You have to stop him!"
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Claire hung up the phone, staring out at the blurred neon lights of the Memphis skyline. Julian wasn't just a rival. He was the architect of her entire nightmare. He had engineered her suffering just to buy her company at a discount.
"Mara," Claire said, her voice vibrating with absolute, unstoppable wrath. "Julian wants to sign a merger. Draft the papers. And then call the FBI."
