Chapter 7 - THE LOCKOUT
The wind howled across the pier, whipping Olivia’s hair across her face. She regained her balance against the railing, clutching the leather ledger tightly to her chest.
Nathan stood between her and the exit, breathing heavily, his eyes darting frantically between Olivia and Clara. He looked completely unhinged. The polished, charismatic executive was gone; in his place was a cornered animal realizing the trap had finally snapped shut.
"Give me the ledger, Olivia," Nathan demanded, stepping forward, the heavy steel wrench gripped tightly in his right hand.
"You followed me," Olivia said, her voice eerily calm despite the adrenaline surging through her veins.
"I tracked your phone," Nathan spat, taking another step. "I knew you wouldn't just go to a hotel and wait. You always have to fix everything. But you can't fix this. Give me the book before she ruins both of us."
Clara, who had recovered from her shock, let out a harsh, bitter laugh. "Ruin both of you? Nathan, you idiot, I already sent the digital copies to the SEC. That book is just the icing on the cake."
Nathan froze, the color draining from his face. He turned to Clara, his jaw slacked in horror. "You... you sent them?"
"This morning," Clara smiled, though her eyes were still rimmed with the tears of her own shattered reality. "They're probably freezing your corporate accounts right now."
Nathan let out a guttural sound of pure rage. He lunged toward Clara, raising the wrench.
"Nathan, no!" Olivia screamed.
She threw herself forward, shoving Nathan’s shoulder just as he swung. The wrench missed Clara’s head by inches, smashing violently into the wooden railing. The impact splintered the wood, and the wrench slipped from Nathan’s grasp, plummeting into the dark waters of Elliott Bay.
Nathan stumbled, recovering quickly, and grabbed Olivia by the lapels of her trench coat, slamming her back against the railing.
"You did this!" Nathan screamed in her face, flecks of spit hitting her cheek. "If you had just stayed out of my accounts, if you had just been a normal wife who didn't ask questions, we would have been fine!"
Olivia stared into the eyes of the man she had slept next to for seven years. There was no love left, not even a ghost of it.
"You framed me for embezzlement, Nathan," Olivia said softly, the Carter stillness turning into absolute ice. "You were going to let me take the fall."
"I was going to pay the money back!" Nathan yelled, shaking her. "I just needed a bridge loan! The firm was going under, and I used your name to secure the offshore funds so my partners wouldn't see! It was temporary!"
"Two million dollars isn't temporary," Olivia said.
"It doesn't matter now!" Nathan shoved her away in disgust. He pulled his cell phone from his pocket, his hands shaking violently as he dialed a number. "I'm locking you out. I'm draining the joint accounts right now. I'm taking everything before the feds can touch it, and I am leaving the country."
He pressed the phone to his ear, his eyes wild with adrenaline.
"Yes, Charles," Nathan barked into the phone, speaking to his private banker. "I need an emergency wire transfer. Empty the primary joint account and the secondary investment portfolio. Route it all to the Swiss holding company. Right now."
Olivia stood against the railing, watching him. She didn't panic. She didn't try to stop him. She simply watched him with a look of profound, quiet pity.
Nathan paused, listening to the banker on the other end of the line. His arrogant expression began to falter.
"What do you mean, zero?" Nathan demanded, his voice cracking. "That's impossible. There was over four million dollars in liquid assets in that account yesterday."
He listened for another three seconds. The phone slowly slipped from his fingers, clattering onto the wooden pier.
He looked at Olivia, sheer, unadulterated terror in his eyes.
"What did you do?" Nathan whispered.
"I told you last night that Victoria Reynolds expects your lawyer's call by noon," Olivia said smoothly, stepping away from the railing. "But what I didn't tell you was that Victoria didn't just draft divorce papers yesterday. She also filed an emergency ex parte injunction."
Nathan staggered back as if she had physically struck him.
"When you opened that safe last night and realized Clara had stolen your blackmail file, you panicked," Olivia continued, her voice echoing clearly over the sound of the crashing waves. "You were so terrified of Clara that you didn't even notice what I was doing."
Olivia reached into her pocket and pulled out a small, heavy object. She tossed it onto the wooden planks at Nathan's feet.
It was a rusted, vintage safety deposit box key.
"My father's lockbox," Olivia said. "The one you convinced me to put our joint assets into for 'safe keeping' three years ago. The one you held the only key to."
Nathan stared at the key on the ground, his mind completely breaking. "How did you..."
"While you were busy crying on the floor of your office, I took it off your keychain," Olivia said coldly. "Victoria and I were at the bank when the doors opened at 8:00 AM. I emptied the box, Nathan. I legally transferred every single cent of my family's money into an escrow account protected by Victoria's firm. You have nothing."
Nathan fell to his knees on the wet wood, his hands pulling at his hair as the reality of his total destruction washed over him. He had no money, no mistress, no wife, and the federal government was already coming for him.
Clara Hayes stepped forward, picking up her father's confession from the ground. She looked at Olivia, a complex mixture of hatred, sorrow, and strange respect in her eyes.
"He's all yours, Olivia," Clara said quietly. She turned and walked away down the pier, disappearing into the Seattle mist.
Olivia looked down at Nathan, who was sobbing into his hands.
"It's over, Nathan," Olivia said.
She turned to leave, her heels clicking on the wood.
"Wait!" Nathan screamed, his voice raw and ragged. He scrambled to his feet, pulling a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket. "It's not over! You think you're so smart, Olivia? Look at this!"
Olivia stopped, looking back over her shoulder.
May you like
Nathan held up the paper, a manic, desperate smile twisting his face.
"You emptied the lockbox, but you forgot about the house!" Nathan laughed hysterically. "I took a second mortgage out on the house two days ago! And you signed the authorization! I have the cashier's check right here for six hundred thousand dollars!"
