Chapter 3 - The Frozen Assets
I stared quietly at the glowing tablet screen showing my husband's precious white Tahoe parked outside his mistress's building.
I shook my head slowly and told my father that blowing up a car was far too easy for a cruel man like Derek.
I wanted Derek to slowly and painfully lose every single thing that gave his pathetic, superficial life meaning.
My father smiled a dangerous, incredibly proud smile that sent visible shivers down the spines of the attending surgeons.
He agreed to temporarily spare the vehicle and commanded his operatives to proceed with the total financial ruin instead.
I drifted into a deep, highly restorative sleep as the surgical anesthesia finally took over my exhausted, battered body.
Miles away, Derek was frantically pacing the hardwood floor of Chloe's apartment while yelling furiously into his cell phone.
He tried repeatedly to log into his mobile banking app to transfer his hidden savings, but the screen constantly flashed a bright red error message.
His platinum credit cards were immediately declined when he tried to quickly book a luxury hotel room for their romantic weekend.
Chloe loudly complained that she wanted to go out for incredibly expensive sushi to celebrate his massive new promotion.
Derek aggressively snapped at her to shut up while he tried to fix what he assumed was a massive banking glitch.
He called the elite customer service line, fully prepared to viciously berate a poor employee for the minor inconvenience.
The bank representative coldly and professionally informed him that a federal freeze had been legally placed on all his assets.
Derek demanded to know exactly who had the legal authority to completely lock him out of his own hard-earned money.
The representative stated that a massive holding company named Sterling Enterprises held an immediate lien on all his properties.
Derek dropped his expensive phone onto the carpet as a cold, terrifying sweat broke out across his forehead.
Sterling Enterprises was the ruthless, unstoppable conglomerate that owned half the commercial real estate in the entire city.
He had absolutely no idea how he could have possibly crossed paths with such a terrifying, elite financial entity.
He frantically grabbed his keys and rushed down to the parking garage to drive directly to his corporate office.
He desperately needed to speak to his boss in person and completely sort out this entirely ridiculous misunderstanding.
When he finally reached his assigned parking spot, his beloved white Chevy Tahoe was completely gone.
In its exact place stood two massive, intimidating men wearing dark suits and mirrored sunglasses.
They handed Derek a thick legal document stating that his vehicle loan had been instantly recalled due to massive fraudulent activity.
Derek screamed at the top of his lungs that they were stealing his property and explicitly threatened to call the police.
One of the men casually pulled back his suit jacket to reveal a heavy, holstered federal firearm.
The man leaned in and quietly whispered that Derek absolutely no longer owned anything in this world.
Derek sprinted out of the parking garage in absolute, paralyzing terror and frantically hailed a passing taxi.
He arrived at his corporate office building, only to find his security keycard completely deactivated at the main turnstile.
The front desk security guard, a man Derek regularly mocked, smirked and firmly told him to wait in the lobby.
An elegant executive assistant stepped out of the private elevator and approached Derek with an incredibly cold smile.
She politely told him that the brand new CEO of the company demanded a private meeting with him immediately.
Derek quickly smoothed his wrinkled shirt, desperately hoping he could use his charm to talk his way out of this nightmare.
He followed the assistant into the luxurious glass elevator that ascended rapidly to the top floor penthouse.
The metal doors opened to reveal a massive, intimidating boardroom overlooking the rainy, dark city skyline.
Derek fully expected to see a ruthless, elderly businessman sitting at the head of the heavy mahogany table.
Instead, he saw a beautiful, familiar woman sitting in the high-backed leather chair with her back completely turned to him.
The chair slowly rotated, and Derek literally gasped as all the blood entirely drained from his panicked face.
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The powerful woman sitting in the CEO's chair was Chloe, wearing a highly mocking, triumphant grin.
She casually informed Derek that she had been working for Sterling Enterprises from the very beginning.
