Chapter 4 - The Boardroom Gambit
The next morning, the sun rose over Alpine with a deceptive, golden warmth. Vanessa walked down the grand staircase at 8:30 AM, dressed in a flawless linen suit, looking as though the previous day's cruelty had been completely erased from her ledger.
"Marcus, darling," she purred, walking into the dining room where Marcus sat with his laptop. "The caterers for the engagement gala need the final headcount by noon. And I think we should reconsider the seating arrangement. Having a children's table is just so messy. We should have Lily stay here with Clara for the evening."
Marcus didn't look up from his screen. "The gala is canceled, Vanessa."
Vanessa froze, her designer coffee cup hovering mid-air. "I'm sorry, what?"
"And so is the wedding," Marcus added, his voice completely devoid of emotion. He finally closed his laptop and looked at her. "The fraud division recovered the IP logs from the Madrid and Miami transactions. Your brother Arthur has already been detained by federal authorities at JFK airport trying to board a flight to Spain with corporate funds stolen from my accounts."
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Vanessa's perfect posture collapsed. Her face turned an ashen, translucent white. "Marcus... listen to me. My family was in a bind. The commercial real estate portfolio collapsed last quarter. We were just borrowing it... we were going to replace it the moment the wedding settlement cleared!"
"You targeted my estate, you defrauded my firm, and worst of all, you brought your parasitic greed into my home and took it out on a grieving three-year-old child," Marcus said, standing up. "You have two hours to pack your things and leave this property. If you are still here by eleven, the state police will escort you out in handcuffs."
