Chapter 16 - The Final Descent And The Mercer Collapse
Caleb descended the grand staircase at a leisurely pace,
each step echoing through the silent foyer like the ticking of a countdown clock.
Sloane stopped screaming,
her eyes widening as she spotted him,
a desperate, manipulative smile instantly replacing her furious expression.
"Caleb!"
Sloane cried out,
running toward the bottom of the stairs,
reaching her arms up toward him.
"Thank God.
Look,
my father lost his temper this morning,
he made some calls he shouldn't have,
everything is a mess.
We can fix this,
darling.
We just need to announce the wedding date is back on,
and..."
Caleb stopped three steps from the bottom,
looking down at her as if she were a total stranger he had never met before in his life.
"Your father didn't just make some calls,
Sloane,"
Caleb interrupted coldly.
"At 1:15 PM today,
Westbrook Corp executed the default clauses on all three of Arthur Mercer’s commercial real estate loans in Manhattan."
Sloane froze,
her arms dropping slowly to her sides.
"What... what did you say?"
"Your father's conglomerate is currently insolvent,"
Caleb continued,
his voice level and relentlessly precise.
"By tomorrow morning,
his bank accounts will be frozen,
his assets will be seized by federal receivers,
and your family will be bankrupt.
Every single penny of inherited wealth your father used to look down on everyone else has just evaporated."
Sloane let out a breathless, horrified gasp,
stumbling backward until her spine hit the marble pillar.
"You... you destroyed us?"
she whispered,
her voice trembling with sheer disbelief.
"You destroyed yourselves the moment you decided that cruelty, arrogance, and human degradation were acceptable traits in your world,"
Caleb answered,
stepping down the final three stairs.
"And just so you're clear—Grace Miller is not a common cleaner anymore.
She is the Director of Estate Operations for this entire property.
She has more integrity in her little finger than your entire family tree possessed in a century."
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Sloane stared at him,
realizing with absolute horror that she had lost everything—her fiancé, her social status, her fortune, and her future—all because she couldn't resist the urge to throw away a three-year-old girl's handmade birthday gift.
