Chapter 4 - THE FALLOUT
By noon, the news of Gregory Ashworth’s dramatic termination had hit the financial wires. Stock prices fluctuated briefly before stabilizing as my name, Eleanor Monroe, was finally released to the public as the interim CEO and majority owner. Wall Street respected power, and they respected the swift, brutal efficiency of the morning's bloodbath.
Across town, in the sprawling, gated estate of the Ashworths, Diane was having a very different morning.
I received the report from Marcus shortly after lunch. Diane had gone to her favorite luxury boutique on Fifth Avenue. She had attempted to purchase a forty-thousand-dollar diamond tennis bracelet—perhaps to soothe her nerves after Gregory hadn't come home to sleep.
Her black Amex was declined.
Assuming it was a bank error, she had demanded the manager call her husband’s private banker. The banker informed the manager that the Ashworth accounts had been frozen by federal authorities pending an investigation into corporate fraud, a direct result of the financial dossier I had forwarded to the SEC at 6:01 AM.
Diane had caused a scene, threatening to ruin the store, screaming that she was the wife of the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. The manager had quietly shown her the push notification on his phone: Gregory Ashworth Ousted Amidst Embezzlement Scandal.
She had been escorted out of the store, not through the front doors where the paparazzi were already beginning to gather, but through the side entrance. The staff entrance.
Meanwhile, I was in my office, having a late lunch with Zoey. She was coloring in a princess book at the small coffee table, completely oblivious to the financial earthquake her mother had just triggered.
"Mommy," she said, holding up a purple crayon. "Are we going to another party soon?"
"Only if you want to, my love," I smiled, stepping away from the mountain of legal documents on my desk to sit beside her. "And next time, we're taking the front door."
My phone rang. It was an unknown number. I answered it, signaling Zoey to keep coloring.
"You ruined my life," Diane's voice hissed through the speaker. It lacked the polished, elitist tone from the night before. It was raw, shaking with fury and disbelief. "My friends won't take my calls. Our accounts are locked. Gregory is with a criminal defense attorney."
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"Diane," I said softly, my voice perfectly level. "I am simply keeping things... organized."
I hung up and blocked the number.
