Chapter 5 - The Insolvency of the Calloways
By Thursday morning, the Calloway Group’s corporate headquarters on LaSalle Street looked like a sinking ship that had been abandoned by its crew. The reception desks were empty, the phones were ringing without answer, and the glass doors were plastered with federal seizure notices from the Securities and Exchange Commission.
I sat in the back of my father’s armored Lincoln, watching through the tinted glass as Ethan and his mother were led out of the building by two plainclothes federal agents. Ethan looked smaller than he ever had—his suit was wrinkled, his hair uncombed, his wrists hidden beneath a dark jacket that had been draped over his hands to conceal the steel cuffs.
Vanessa was screaming at the television cameras that had gathered along the curb, her silver hair flying wild in the windy city air as she was guided into the back of a gray government sedan.
"They're done, Emma," my father said from the seat beside me, his hand resting gently over mine. "The forensic accountants found three other instances where Ethan had used stolen access keys to divert funds from regional construction projects. He wasn't just trying to rob you—he’s been keeping his family’s entire corporate empire afloat on a river of embezzled cash for three years."
"I know, Dad," I said, my voice dropping into a soft, tired whisper. "I just... I keep wondering if any of it was real. The street food, the flowers from the market... did he only choose me because he thought I was easy to break?"
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"He chose you because he thought you were alone, sweetie," my father said, his voice tightening with that fierce, protective strength that had kept our family safe since my mother passed away. "Men like Ethan Calloway don't know how to look at a woman without looking for a vulnerability. He didn't see your heart; he saw a blank space where he could write his own script. But he forgot that blank spaces can be filled with concrete."
The Lincoln pulled away from the curb, leaving the noise of LaSalle Street behind as we headed north toward the quiet, green hills of Oakwood Hills. The city was still there, glittering under the gray autumn sky, but for the first time in two years, the air inside my lungs felt clean.
