Chapter 6 - The Price of Pride
The fire cracked loudly in the small brick fireplace, but Nathan felt freezing cold.
A hit and run.
David was in a coma.
"They're coming after me?" Nathan asked, his voice barely a whisper. He looked at the heavy wooden door of the duplex, half expecting it to burst open.
"Not if you do exactly what I say," Olivia replied, her voice remaining impossibly steady.
She walked to the coffee table and placed a thick stack of papers next to the hospital bracelet.
"These are your exit documents," Olivia explained. "A full confession to corporate negligence, admitting you operated outside of board approval. You take full responsibility for the defaulted loans and the mismanagement of funds."
Nathan stared at the papers. "If I sign this, I'll be barred from trading real estate anywhere in the United States. My reputation will be destroyed."
"Your reputation is a fiction, Nathan," Olivia said sharply. "It always was. You sign these papers, and the board—which I control—will officially fire you without pressing criminal charges. It creates a public record that you are completely severed from the money, the company, and the assets. You become useless to the syndicate."
"But I'll have nothing!" Nathan cried out, his pride flaring up one last, pathetic time. "You get the money from the Chicago sale, and I get what? Ruined?"
Olivia looked at him, her expression hardening into stone.
"You get to live," she said.
She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small, velvet box.
She opened it.
Inside was the cheap, cubic zirconia engagement ring Nathan had bought her when they were twenty-three years old. The ring he had promised to replace with a massive diamond, but never did, because he kept spending his bonuses on expensive cars and tailored suits.
"I kept this," Olivia said, staring at the fake stone, "because it reminded me of the boy who wanted to build something real. The boy who ate pizza on the floor with me."
She snapped the box shut.
"That boy is dead. And I am not going down with the man who replaced him."
She tossed the velvet box onto the stack of papers.
"You have until midnight to sign," Olivia said. "My lawyers will pick them up in the morning. If they aren't signed, I will hand David's journal over to the FBI, and I will testify that you acted alone."
She walked past him, heading for the front door.
"Where are you going?" Nathan asked, desperation clawing at his throat.
"To the airport," Olivia said without turning around. "I have a flight to catch."
"To where?"
"Away from you."
The heavy wooden door opened, and then closed with a final, decisive click.
Nathan was alone.
He stared at the papers. He stared at the hospital bracelet. He stared at the cheap ring.
For the first time in his life, there was no one to charm, no one to manipulate, and no one to rescue him.
He picked up a pen from the coffee table. His hand shook violently as he pressed the tip to the signature line.
He signed his name. Once, twice, three times. Signing away his empire, his pride, and his marriage.
When he finished, he collapsed onto the floor, pulling his knees to his chest in the empty, silent house.
Suddenly, his cell phone buzzed in his pocket.
He pulled it out. It was a text message from an unknown number.
Check your personal bank account. - M
Madison.
Nathan quickly opened his banking app. The screen loaded, displaying his private checking account. The one he had used to buy her earrings.
The balance was $0.00.
A second text arrived.
They froze everything, Nathan. Marcus is taking over your corner office tomorrow. Goodbye.
Madison hadn't just been playing him; she had stripped him bare on her way out the door.
May you like
Nathan dropped the phone on the hardwood floor. It shattered the glass screen.
He sat in the dark, watching the fire slowly burn out, finally understanding the true cost of thinking he was the smartest man in the room.
