Chapter 6 - THE WALK OF FIRE
The silence that followed was absolute,
broken only by the rapid clicking of a reporter’s camera.
Nathaniel looked up at the screen,
and in that single moment,
every ounce of color left his face.
His mouth opened slightly,
but no sound came out,
his brilliant mind failing to find a lie fast enough.
The document was clear,
unmistakable,
bearing the official seal of the auditing firm we had hired in secret.
“What you are looking at,”
I said,
my voice calm,
measured,
“is the real foundation of the new global resort.”
I touched the screen again,
and a second document appeared beside the first.
This one was a contract,
transferring the intellectual property of our architectural designs,
to a shell company registered under Sienna Vale’s name.
The crowd began to murmur,
the investors in the front row standing up to get a closer look.
These were the men who had trusted Nathaniel with their millions,
the men who had signed the papers based on his personal guarantee.
Now,
they were watching their investments being funneled into a mistress’s bank account.
“Sienna,”
I said,
turning back to her,
“I hope you enjoyed the dress,
because it is the last luxury you will ever receive from this company.”
Sienna looked around the room,
realizing that the faces that had been smiling at her minutes ago,
were now filled with disgust.
She took a step back,
her heel catching on the long hem of the red gown,
nearly causing her to fall.
No one reached out to help her.
The magic of the night had vanished,
replaced by the cold,
hard reality of corporate fraud.
Nathaniel finally found his voice,
yelling up at the stage.
“This is a fabrication!
She is bitter,
she is trying to ruin me because of the divorce!”
But his words had no power,
the evidence on the screen was too detailed,
too precise.
Daniel walked onto the stage,
handing me a physical folder,
its blue cover bearing the logo of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“This afternoon,”
I told the room,
“a formal complaint was filed with the SEC,
along with the complete financial records of the last three years.”
The federal authorities had already frozen the offshore accounts,
preventing Nathaniel from moving a single dollar.
The empire he had built on my back was crumbling,
stone by stone,
in front of the very people he had tried to impress.
I looked at the board members,
seeing the anger in their eyes,
the realization of how close they had come to ruin.
“As of five minutes ago,”
I announced,
“the board of directors has convened an emergency meeting,
and a vote has been cast.”
I looked at Nathaniel,
meeting his panicked gaze with absolute coldness.
“You are terminated,
May you like
Nathaniel,
effective immediately.”
