Chapter 1 - The Arrival
Richard Vance stepped into the penthouse, loosening his two-thousand-dollar silk tie. He was a man who moved through the world assuming it would part for him. At fifty-two, he possessed a silver-fox charm that he weaponized in boardrooms and hotel bars alike. He was still on his cell phone, his voice a low, arrogant hum.
"I told you, sweetheart, the merger goes through on Friday. Buy the yacht. I'll handle the logistics," Richard said, a smirk playing on his lips before he hung up.
He finally looked up and saw Eleanor.
She hadn't moved. The ivory silk of her suit caught the last dying rays of the amber sun. Richard sighed, an exaggerated sound of exhaustion. "Eleanor. Why are you sitting in the dark? You look like a ghost."
"I prefer the quiet, Richard," Eleanor said, her voice smooth, perfectly modulated, and utterly devoid of warmth. "It allows me to hear things clearly. Like your conversation with Chloe."
Richard froze. The name hung in the air, sharp as a guillotine blade. Chloe was his twenty-six-year-old assistant.
He recovered quickly, putting on his best condescending smile. "Don't be dramatic, El. She's helping me pick out a corporate retreat location. Have you been drinking?"
Eleanor slowly lifted a thick, matte-black folder from the seat beside her and dropped it onto the glass coffee table. The thud echoed like a gunshot.
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"I haven't had a drink in eight months, Richard," Eleanor said softly. "Not since I hired the forensic accountants. Those are the divorce papers. But more importantly, those are the wire transfer records of the thirty-four million dollars you embezzled from our company to offshore accounts in the Caymans."
Richard’s smile vanished. The shadows in the room seemed to swallow him whole.
