Chapter 6 - The Trap
Sloan Whitmore stepped into the destroyed entryway of the penthouse.
She wore a pristine white designer coat that stood out violently against the chaos.
The armed men secured the perimeter, effectively trapping Brandon in his own luxurious home.
Brandon raised his hands slowly, completely bewildered by the sudden attack.
He demanded to know what Sloan was doing breaking into his apartment with a private hit squad.
Sloan smiled coldly, a look completely devoid of the affection she usually showed him.
She calmly explained that Alder Crest had finally discovered his massive embezzlement scheme.
She told him the board of directors didn't involve the FBI because they hated public scandals.
They preferred to handle corporate thieves internally, quietly, and permanently.
Brandon tried to negotiate, his voice trembling as he promised to return every single stolen cent.
He claimed it was just a temporary liquidity problem and he could fix the spreadsheets.
Sloan laughed, a harsh, grating sound that echoed off the marble walls.
She told him he was utterly pathetic to think he was the mastermind of this entire operation.
She casually walked over to the kitchen island and picked up Emily's white envelope.
Sloan revealed that she was the one who had actually orchestrated the entire embezzlement scheme.
She had used Brandon's arrogant ambition to move the money exactly where she needed it.
She had manipulated his passwords, forged his signatures, and set him up as the perfect, clueless patsy.
Brandon felt the floor completely drop out from under him.
He realized the affair hadn't been about passion; it had been a carefully calculated corporate assassination.
Sloan informed him that he was going to take the fall for stealing forty million dollars.
And if he tried to implicate her, these armed men would ensure he suffered a fatal "accident" before the trial.
She turned to leave, tossing Emily's envelope dismissively into the trash can.
Brandon desperately yelled after her, pointing frantically at the open laptop on the counter.
He screamed that Emily had all the files, all the proof, and the entire spreadsheet.
He warned Sloan that Emily knew everything and was already gone with the evidence.
Sloan froze mid-step, her perfect posture suddenly going rigidly stiff.
She rushed back to the laptop and stared at the screen showing the hidden files.
Her face drained of all color as she realized Emily had stolen the actual master ledger.
Sloan grabbed Brandon by the throat, her perfectly manicured nails digging into his skin.
She demanded to know exactly where his crazy wife had taken the USB drive's backup copies.
Before Brandon could choke out an answer, the penthouse phone began to ring loudly.
Sloan snatched the receiver off the wall and barked a violent greeting.
The voice on the other end wasn't Emily.
It was a distorted, electronically altered voice that sounded like grinding metal.
The voice told Sloan that if she wanted the master ledger back, she had to let Brandon go.
The voice commanded her to send him down to the lobby alone, or the files would be sent to the SEC in five minutes.
Sloan glared at Brandon, realizing he was the only leverage she had left.
She shoved him toward the door, ordering her men to escort him to the lobby.
Brandon stumbled toward the elevator, completely terrified of who was waiting for him downstairs.
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He realized with absolute horror that Emily hadn't just run away to hide.
She had orchestrated a massive, violent collision between the people who destroyed her life.
