Chapter 4: The Fall of the King
Chapter 4: The Fall of the King
When Marcus was escorted into Isabella’s office, he tried to maintain his usual swagger. He had spent the last few hours on the phone with a high-profile defense attorney, who had assured him that even if Isabella owned the parent company, his employment contract guaranteed him a twenty-million-dollar exit clause if he was terminated without cause.
"You think you've won, Isabella?" Marcus sneered, refusing to sit in the chair offered to him. "Fine. You fooled me. You played the quiet, submissive wife while your daddy pulled the strings. But you still have to pay me out. Twenty million dollars. I’ll take Vanessa, I'll take my money, and I’ll build a rival hotel chain that will put your family name in the dirt."
Vanessa, who had been brought in with him, nodded eagerly behind his shoulder, though her eyes kept darting nervously toward the security guards.
Isabella didn't look up from her tablet. "Twenty million dollars. It's a lovely number, Marcus. It really is. It’s just a shame that your contract specifies that any termination resulting from gross misconduct, criminal negligence, or illegal asset diversion voids the payout entirely."
Marcus’s smirk faltered. "I haven't done anything illegal."
Isabella slid the tablet across the desk. It displayed a live broadcast of a press conference being held downstairs by Mr. Sterling. On the screen, financial charts detail Marcus’s offshore transfers, alongside a statement from the construction foreman of the Tokyo project, who had just confessed to taking bribes from Marcus.
"The FBI’s white-collar crime division was notified forty-five minutes ago," Isabella said, her voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. "They are currently executing a search warrant on your private residence and freezing the French villa you bought for your companion there."
Vanessa gasped, turning on Marcus instantly. "What? The villa is frozen? You told me that place was completely safe! You told me she was stupid and would never find out!"
"Shut up, Vanessa!" Marcus yelled, his face turning a deep, panicked purple. He lunged toward Isabella’s desk, but before he could even get close, two guards grabbed his arms, pinning him backward. "You can't do this to me, Isabella! We were a team! I loved you!"
"You loved my silence," Isabella countered, standing up and walking around the desk until she was inches away from him. "You loved the power I let you wear like a cheap suit. You threw me out of my own hotel, Marcus. You let your mistress wear my mother’s clothes. You thought you could erase me. But you forgot the most fundamental rule of our world: you were just an employee."
The heavy doors opened once more. This time, it wasn't corporate executives who entered. Two federal agents in dark suits walked into the room, badges displayed.
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"Marcus Croft?" the lead agent asked. "You are under arrest for wire fraud, embezzlement, and corporate racketeering. Step away from the desk."
As the handcuffs clicked around Marcus’s wrists, he looked at Isabella with a desperate, pleading expression. But she simply turned her back to him, looking out at the empire that was finally, truly, hers alone.
