Chapter 8 - The Cornered Rat
Desperation makes dangerous men foolish. Alexander, facing twenty years in federal prison and drowning in legal debt, decided to play his final, pathetic card. He bypassed security at the Ashford corporate headquarters by slipping in through the loading dock—a trick he knew from his days overseeing the hotel renovations.
Vivien was alone in her office, finalizing the Vanguard merger on her own terms, when the heavy oak door slammed shut behind her.
Alexander stood there, looking hollowed out. His suit was wrinkled, his hair greasy, the arrogant sneer replaced by the panicked panting of a hunted animal. He pulled a crumpled manila envelope from his jacket.
“I have a copy of the original trust documents, Vivien,” he sneered, though his hands shook violently. “The ones your mother signed before she died. There’s a clause. A morality clause. If I go to the press and claim you were having an affair with your lawyer—with Julian—before we separated, I can contest the divorce and tie up the company in litigation for a decade.”
Vivien didn’t reach for the panic button under her desk. She didn’t even stand up. She slowly capped her fountain pen and looked at him.
“You broke into my building to blackmail me with a fake morality clause?” she asked, genuinely amused.
“It’s not fake!” he shouted, stepping forward. “I’ll ruin you! I’ll tell the world you orchestrated this whole thing to steal the company and run off with your hired gun!”
The door behind him opened, and Julian stepped in, flanked by two massive security guards. Julian looked at Alexander with the detached disgust one reserves for something scraped off a shoe.
“Alexander,” Julian said casually, adjusting his cuffs. “Did you really think we wouldn’t monitor the loading docks? Furthermore, did you think a first-year law student couldn’t debunk a morality clause you printed at a FedEx Office this morning?”
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Alexander spun around, realizing he was completely trapped.
“Grace,” Vivien called out via her intercom. “Please have the police come up to the executive suite. My ex-husband is trespassing and attempting extortion.”
