Chapter 4 - The Checkmate
"You arrogant little..." Richard hissed, lunging forward, completely abandoning the polished billionaire persona.
Before he could take three steps, Caleb physically intercepted his father, shoving him hard in the chest. Richard stumbled back, shocked by the sudden violence from his compliant son.
"You stole my life," Caleb said, his voice dropping to a lethal, trembling whisper. "You stole the woman I loved. You stole eight years with my sons."
"I protected this family!" Richard screamed, pointing a shaking finger at Aaliyah. "She was a line cook! She was nobody! I built this empire, and she was going to ruin it with her bastard children!"
"The only person who ruined this family is you," Caleb said, turning his back on his father for the first time in his life.
"It's over, Richard," Aaliyah said, pulling a cell phone from her pocket. "The copies of your forged NDA, the Cayman routing numbers, and the internal emails between you and Peter Hall were submitted to the SEC and the FBI an hour ago. In fact, if you look out the stained-glass windows, you'll see they didn't even wait for the reception."
May you like
Through the heavy oak doors of the church lobby, the flashing red and blue lights of federal vehicles illuminated the stone walls.
Richard Whitmore looked at the lights. The blood entirely left his face. His knees visibly buckled, the reality of a federal penitentiary crushing the air from his lungs. He collapsed into the front pew, burying his face in his hands, surrounded by guests who were already backing away from him as if he were diseased.
