Chapter 5 - The Corporate Guillotine
The next morning, Julian tried to regain control the only way he knew how—by showing up at his boutique investment firm in downtown Chicago, hoping to leverage his client assets to hire a brutal divorce lawyer.
He strutted into the glass-and-steel lobby, barking orders at the receptionist. “Get my legal team on the phone, and cancel all my morning meetings. I need to—”
He stopped dead in his tracks.
Standing in the center of the trading floor were three men wearing windbreakers with the letters FBI printed across the back. His junior partners were sitting at their desks, hands shaking, while federal agents boxed up hard drives and files.
Richard Sterling, my attorney, stood calmly by the espresso machine, sipping a dark roast.
“What is going on here?!” Julian demanded, his voice cracking.
Richard turned, a predator’s smile spreading across his face. “Ah, Julian. Welcome back from the islands. I hope you got a nice tan, because orange jumpsuits really wash out pale skin.”
“You have no right to be here!” Julian shouted, lunging forward, but an agent immediately stepped into his path, hand resting on his service weapon.
“I have every right,” Richard said smoothly. “You see, Clara is the primary beneficiary of the Hale Trust. The same trust you forged signatures to borrow against. When Clara audited her personal accounts, she found your little offshore shell companies. She fulfilled her legal duty as a citizen and reported the embezzlement to the authorities.”
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Julian’s knees literally buckled. He grabbed a desk to steady himself. “She… she set me up.”
“No, Julian,” Richard corrected. “She just turned on the lights. You set yourself up. By the way, the bank called in the loans. You are personally liable for twelve million dollars. You don't have a firm anymore. You have a criminal record.”
