Chapter 10 - THE COLLAPSE OF AN IMPERATOR
The word 'FBI' seemed to deflate whatever strength Grant had left.
He stumbled backward,
his hand catching the edge of the elevator wall to steady himself.
"The FBI?"
he whispered,
his voice barely audible.
"We filed a formal complaint for interstate corporate espionage,"
Madeleine explained,
her tone businesslike.
"Since the servers you accessed were located in our New Jersey facility,
and you attempted to sell the data to an entity in Illinois.
It is a federal matter now,
Mister Whitmore."
Sienna let out a sharp,
hysterical sob,
dropping her white roses onto the floor.
She began to pull at the ties of my black silk robe,
trying desperately to get out of it,
as if the fabric itself was burning her skin.
"Take it back!"
she screamed,
untying the robe and throwing it onto the marble floor.
"Take it all back!
I don't want any of this!
I didn't know he was stealing!
He told me he was the owner!"
The robe lay in a heap at my feet,
a pool of black silk on the white marble,
next to the scattered white rose petals.
I looked down at it,
then back up at Sienna,
who was now shivering in her basic undergarments beneath her camel coat.
"You should have checked the deed,
Sienna,"
I said,
my voice quiet and clear.
"It would have saved you a lot of embarrassment."
Grant was staring at the floor,
his eyes fixed on the ruined silk robe.
All his life,
he had chased wealth,
power,
and status,
believing they were things he could simply take from others.
He had believed that his charm was enough to carry him through any storm,
that his wife was too weak to ever stand up to him.
Now,
he was standing in a room full of people who knew exactly what he was:
a thief,
a liar,
and a failure.
"Evelyn,"
he pleaded,
dropping to his knees,
looking up at me with tears in his eyes.
"Please.
We can talk about this.
May you like
We can work this out.
Don't do this to me."
