Chapter 6 - Unraveling the Empire
Bradley’s legs buckled slightly under the sheer weight of absolute terror. He grabbed the back of a chair, pulling it out and collapsing into it as if all the bones in his body had suddenly turned to water.
“I don’t understand,” Bradley whispered, staring at me as if he were seeing a complete stranger for the very first time. “Who... who are you?”
“You spent five years living in my house, driving my cars, wearing suits purchased with my family's dividends, and running a company that I personally kept afloat with my own capital,” I replied, my voice steady, cold, and echoing clearly off the wood-paneled walls. “And yet, every single day, you looked down on me. You treated me like an insignificant burden. You brought another woman into our bed, and on Friday night, you proudly stood in my foyer and screamed at me to get out.”
“Your... your house?” Bradley choked out, his mouth working wordlessly like a fish out of water. “That mansion... that’s my home! I signed the mortgage documents!”
“You signed a lease agreement subsidized entirely through an Apex Holdings shell corporation,” Simon corrected smoothly, sliding a certified property deed across the table. “Ms. Vance is the sole legal owner and deed holder of the estate on Ocean Drive, as well as every single piece of furniture, art, and crystal inside it—including the wineglass your mistress is currently drinking out of.”
Bradley’s chest rose and fell in rapid, shallow gasps. “That’s... that’s impossible. If you own Lawson Dynamics... if you own the house... then why were you married to me? Why did you let me play CEO?”
“Because my grandfather taught me that character is best revealed when a man is given absolute power,” I said, resting my elbows on the table and leaning forward slightly. “For five years, I gave you freedom, resources, and trust. I wanted to see if success would make you a better man. Instead, it revealed that you were always an arrogant, narcissistic tyrant who mistreated everyone beneath you the moment you thought they had nothing left to offer.”
Panic finally overwhelmed shock. Bradley slammed his palms onto the mahogany table, standing up so fast his chair crashed backward onto the floor.
“You can’t do this!” Bradley roared, his voice cracking with hysteria. “I am the Chief Executive Officer! I signed the major contracts! I built this company’s reputation! The board voted for me!”
“The board serves at the pleasure of the majority stakeholder,” one of the senior directors spoke up for the first time, adjusting his glasses with profound disgust. “And Apex Holdings holds ninety-eight point five percent of the voting shares, Mr. Lawson. You were never the owner. You were merely an employee on an extended probation period—one that has officially expired.”
Simon slid a second document across the table.
“Furthermore, Mr. Lawson,” Simon continued smoothly, “our forensic audit conducted over the past forty-eight hours has uncovered eighty-five thousand dollars in unauthorized corporate wire transfers used to pay for personal luxury resort expenses, alongside multiple counts of corporate expense fraud tied directly to your travels with Ms. Khloe Baxter.”
May you like
Bradley stared at the papers as if they were covered in venomous snakes.
“ embezzlement,” Simon said quietly. “Federal wire fraud. Breach of fiduciary duty. The criminal referral has already been transmitted to the federal prosecutor’s office downtown.”
