Chapter 3 - The Broken Mask
The silence that collapsed onto the executive lounge was absolute.
Vanessa slowly turned to look at Carter, her jaw slack, her blue eyes wide with a mixture of shock and fury. "What did he just call her? Abigail... Whitaker?"
Carter was staring at the champagne flute sitting on the table, where the soaked cream envelope was dissolving in the bubbling alcohol. "No," he muttered, his voice shaking uncontrollably. "No, that’s impossible. It’s a mistake. A scam. Abigail’s parents are dead! She told me she was an orphan from Oregon! She edited romance novels for twenty bucks an hour!"
"You idiot!" Harrison Langford roared, his face turning from red to a terrifying shade of purple. He grabbed Carter by the lapels of his wet, champagne-stained jacket, shaking him violently. "You complete and utter fool! Do you know who Richard Whitaker was?! He was the most ruthless industrialist on the West Coast! He owned Apex Financial! He owned the banks that hold my mortgages!"
"Harrison, wait—" Carter stammered, panic rising in his chest like bile. "She never told me! I swear to God she never told me! We lived in a six-hundred-square-foot apartment! She wore clothes from Target! She drove an eleven-year-old Honda!"
"Because she was testing you, you braindead jackass!" Harrison spat, shoving Carter backward so hard that Carter stumbled over a plush armchair and crashed onto the floor. "And you failed! You walked into her hospital room after she had triplets and handed her a fifty-thousand-dollar divorce settlement while holding my daughter's hand?!"
Vanessa stepped back, looking at Carter as if he were a poisonous insect crawling on the carpet. "You told me she was a nobody, Carter. You told me she was a leech holding back your company!"
"She was!" Carter yelled, scrambling to his feet, frantically wiping the sticky champagne from his chest. "She didn't act like a billionaire! If she had billions, why did she let me struggle?! Why did she let me take out personal loans to pay for Vance Innovation’s rent?!"
"Because she wanted to see if you loved her or her money!" Vanessa shrieked, her voice echoing off the marble walls. "And you proved you were a pathetic, greedy gold-digger! My God, Carter, if her lawyers are freezing Whitaker assets, that means my father’s seventy-million-dollar loan is dead!"
Harrison looked like he was having a medical emergency. He pulled out his phone with trembling hands, dialing a number rapidly. "Jerry! Jerry, get the legal team on the line! Check the filing status of the Apex Financial liquidity bridge right now!"
He listened to the receiver for three seconds before dropping the phone. It shattered against the marble floor.
"It’s frozen," Harrison whispered, his voice trembling. "The application was personally flagged by the Chairwoman’s office. They’ve initiated a predatory audit of Langford Capital’s existing debt obligations."
He looked at Carter with pure, unadulterated hatred.
"If my company goes under because of your mess, Vance," Harrison growled, stepping toward him, "I will make sure you never work in tech again. I will sue you for breach of contract, fraud, and misrepresentation. I’ll take every share of Vance Innovation you own and feed it to the dogs!"
"Harrison, please!" Carter begged, sweat pouring down his forehead, ruining his carefully styled hair. "We can fix this! I’ll go back upstairs! I’ll talk to Abigail! She loves me, Harrison! She’s soft! She cried when I told her I was leaving! If I apologize, if I tell her I made a mistake, she’ll forgive me! She always forgives me!"
"You think a woman who just inherited six billion dollars and rejected your pathetic divorce paper is going to forgive you because you say sorry?!" Vanessa screamed. "Get away from me, Carter! Don't touch me!"
She grabbed her designer purse and sprinted out of the lounge. Harrison gave Carter one final, murderous glare before turning on his heel and following his daughter, leaving Carter standing alone in the center of the vast, luxurious room.
The Vanguard security guards at the doors didn't move. They simply watched him with cold, emotionless eyes.
Carter turned around, staring at the elevator bank that led to the fourth floor. His heart was hammering so hard he could feel it in his teeth.
Six point eight billion dollars.
All those years he had complained about paying bills. All those times he had made her feel small for not having a prestigious career. All those nights he had come home late, smelling of expensive whiskey that he bought with her hard-earned freelance editing money, bragging about his future while she quietly made him dinner in their cramped kitchen.
She wasn't a broke orphan.
She was the queen of the largest financial empire on the West Coast.
"I can fix it," Carter muttered to himself, running a shaking hand through his hair. "I just have to get to her before the lawyers poison her mind completely. She’s the mother of my children. She won't let her husband fail."
He marched toward the elevator bank and slammed his thumb against the call button.
The doors opened immediately.
Standing inside were two six-foot-four Vanguard security officers, their arms crossed over their chests.
"Fourth floor is restricted, Mr. Vance," the guard on the left said, his voice flat. "Step back."
"I am her husband!" Carter yelled, his voice cracking with desperation. "I have a right to see my wife and my sons!"
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The guard stepped out of the elevator, moving with a fluid, terrifying speed that pressed Carter backward until his shoulder hit the marble pillar.
"You signed away those rights thirty minutes ago, sir," the guard said softly, pointing toward the main entrance of the hospital. "Now walk out of this building on your own feet, or we will carry you out in handcuffs."
