Chapter 6 - The Trap Spreads
Over the next forty-eight hours, the legal net around Preston Rhodes tightened like a steel snare.
Sitting in his temporary hotel room on the outskirts of the city—paid for with the last couple hundred dollars of cash he had in his wallet—Preston stared at the array of legal notices spread across the bed. Indictments for corporate embezzlement, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, and tax evasion were piled high.
His phone rang. It was his personal attorney, Arthur Vance.
"Preston, it's over," Vance said without preamble. "I just spoke with Samuel Archer. Evelyn isn't offering a settlement."
"She has to!" Preston pleaded, clutching the phone tightly. "We were married for seven years! I helped raise her son! She can't just leave me with nothing!"
"She isn't leaving you with nothing, Preston," Vance said grimly. "She’s leaving you with millions of dollars in corporate debt and potential federal prison time. Her team has compiled a three-hundred-page forensic report documenting every single dollar you moved from Whitaker Development into Brooke Ellison's accounts."
"What about my equity in the main estate?" Preston asked desperately. "The Lake Forest mansion! It’s worth fifteen million dollars!"
"The Lake Forest mansion was purchased by Harrison Whitaker in 1998 under a private family trust," Vance replied. "Your name was never on the title deed. You were merely a resident guest."
A cold sweat broke out across Preston's body. "What about the cars? The real estate portfolio in Miami?"
"All owned by Whitaker Subsidiaries. Evelyn signed every master deed before your marriage. You had executive management rights, Preston, but zero ownership equity. The moment she revoked your CEO status, your access ceased."
Preston collapsed back onto the cheap bed mattresses. His mind raced back through seven years of marriage—every luxury vacation, every high-stakes business deal, every praise he had received from Chicago’s elite. He had believed he was a master of the universe. In truth, he was merely an employee living in an empire built by someone else.
"There's one more thing," Vance added hesitantly.
"What?" Preston whispered.
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"Brooke Ellison just entered a cooperation agreement with the District Attorney's office. She’s testifying that you coerced her into signing those dummy corporation documents under the promise of marital protection. She’s handing over every text message, email, and bank record you ever sent her."
Preston’s phone slipped from his fingers, falling onto the bed as the ultimate betrayal crushed whatever lingering hope he had left.
