Chapter 9 - The House of Glass Collapses
""Where did you get this?"" Julian's voice cracked, the veneer of aristocratic charm shattering in an instant. He reached for the paper, but Nora slammed her palm flat against the document, pinning it down.
""I retrieved it from Vault 4,"" she said, leaning forward. ""The archive you spent five years searching for. You thought marrying me would grant you automatic administrative access to my father's holdings. You thought kicking me out into the rain this morning would trigger the default clause and save your failing hedge fund.""
Julian’s chest heaved. He reached toward the phone on his desk, his fingers trembling. ""Richard! Richard, get up here now!""
The speaker crackled, but Richard’s voice did not answer. Instead, the cool, sarcastic tone of Elena Sterling came through the intercom: ""Richard took a plea deal ten minutes ago, little brother. He’s already singing to the district attorney about the offshore accounts. It turns out loyalty doesn't pay eighty million in margin calls.""
Julian staggered back, knocking over his scotch. The dark amber liquid seeped across the glass desk, pooling around the edges of the adoption papers.
""Nora... Nora, wait,"" Julian stammered, raising his hands in a frantic gesture of placation. The predatory confidence he had displayed in the manor foyer that morning had disintegrated into pathetic desperation. ""We can settle this. You want a divorce? I'll give you everything. I'll sign whatever you want. We keep the family name intact. My mother... if she finds out this went public, it will destroy us.""
Nora looked at him with an expression of profound, unyielding indifference. ""You forgot what I said in the foyer, Julian.""
""What?"" he whispered, his eyes wide with terror.
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""I told you I wanted to remember it,"" she said quietly. ""For court.""
Before Julian could move, the heavy glass doors of the executive suite opened, and two federal marshals entered, accompanied by the state prosecutor.
