Chapter 7 - THE RECKONING AT APEX REAL ESTATE
The news hit Apex Real Estate like a tactical nuclear strike.
By three o'clock that afternoon, Richard Vance had been escorted out of his corporate office by building security, carrying his personal belongings in a cardboard box while dozens of junior employees watched in stunned silence. His company’s board of directors had held an emergency meeting, discovered that their master lease was about to be terminated by the mysterious majority stakeholder, and immediately pinned the blame on Richard’s departmental negligence.
To make matters worse, Judge Harrison had granted every single one of our emergency motions: Richard’s corporate and personal assets were frozen, a restraining order barred him from coming within five hundred feet of Lily or me, and he was ordered to pay all legal fees associated with the divorce.
I sat in the backseat of Julian’s black Rolls-Royce as it idled outside the grand glass lobby of Apex Real Estate’s headquarters. Julian sat beside me, sipping a cup of black coffee, watching the drama unfold through tinted windows.
A few yards away, Richard stood on the concrete sidewalk, his expensive suit wrinkled, his face red with uncontainable rage, screaming into his phone while his mother, Olivia, stood beside him wringing her hands in absolute panic.
"He’s finished," Julian murmured, setting his coffee cup down. "Apex is cutting ties with him to save their own skin, his mother’s trust has been frozen due to unpaid tax liens we uncovered yesterday, and his girlfriend, Vanessa, blocked his number the moment she found out he couldn't pay her rent anymore."
I watched my soon-to-be-ex-husband throw his cardboard box onto the hood of a taxi in sheer frustration. It was a pathetic display of a man who had spent his entire life believing he was invincible because he knew how to bully people weaker than himself.
"You didn't just help me file for divorce, Julian," I said, turning to look at him. "You systematically dismantled his entire world in less than forty-eight hours."
Julian turned his head, his amber-grey eyes softening as they met mine. "I didn't dismantle anything, Maya. I simply handed you the keys to the wrecking ball. You’re the one who swung it."
He reached across the console, his fingers brushing gently against the silver orchid ring resting on my chest. A strange, electric shiver ran down my spine—not fear, but the dizzying realization of a new beginning.
"What happens now?" I asked softly.
"Now," Julian said, a confident, warm smile spreading across his face, "we go home. And then, we begin the process of rebuilding Lin Global Holdings—starting with taking back the empire your mother left you."
I looked out the window one last time at Richard, who was now kicking a discarded coffee cup across the pavement, completely broken, entirely alone, and utterly defeated.
I touched the orchid ring, feeling its familiar, comforting weight.
May you like
The waitress from Queens was gone. The lost heiress had found her footing. And the wolves who thought they could break me were about to learn what happened when they cornered a queen.
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