Chapter 3 - The Billionaire’s Begging
By Tuesday afternoon, Cole Meridian Holdings was in a complete tailspin. Trading of their stock was temporarily halted, the SEC had formally opened an investigation, and the business news networks were running the story non-stop. I was sitting in my office, quietly sipping a latte and reviewing a new client file, when my assistant buzzed my intercom.
“Claire? I’m sorry to interrupt, but Ethan Cole is in the lobby. He bypass security and says he’s not leaving until you speak with him. Should I call building management?”
I sighed, setting down my pen. “No, it’s fine. Send him in.”
A moment later, Ethan practically stumbled into my office. The polished, magazine-cover billionaire from our first date was gone. His hair was disheveled, his tie was loosened, and he looked like he hadn't slept in days. He quickly shut the glass door behind him and paced across my carpet.
“Claire, please, you have to help me,” he begged, his voice cracking. “You have to issue a retraction or amend the report. Say the data was inconclusive. Anything.”
I leaned back in my ergonomic chair, crossing my arms. “You walked into my office to ask me to commit corporate fraud, Ethan? Really? Is your mother waiting in the lobby to supervise this conversation too?”
He winced, running a hand through his hair. “Leave her out of this. You destroyed her, Claire. The board is moving to freeze her voting shares. My uncle is facing federal wire fraud charges. And the board has asked for my resignation by Friday.”
“Your mother destroyed herself,” I corrected him coldly. “She tried to steal forty-two million dollars from her own company to cover her brother’s gambling debts and bad investments. You’re just angry that you got caught in the crossfire.”
Ethan stepped closer to my desk, leaning his hands on the glass. He tried to soften his eyes, trying to deploy that boyish charm that probably worked on dozens of women before me. “Claire, I didn't know. I swear to you, I didn't know how deep the fraud went. My mother pushed for the deal, and I just trusted her. You and I... we had a real connection before Friday. I really liked you. If we work together, we can fix this. You can advise me on how to restructure the board. We can be a team.”
I looked at him in total disbelief. He was actually trying to flirt his way out of federal prison and corporate ruin.
“Ethan, let me make this very clear,” I said, my voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. “There is no ‘we.’ You sat at that dinner table and let your mother treat me like garbage because you are weak. You let her run your company into the ground because you are lazy. You didn't know about the fraud because you never bothered to do the work. You’re not a CEO, Ethan. You’re just a boy holding his mother’s purse.”
His face flushed a deep, ugly red. The charm instantly vanished, replaced by a vicious, defensive sneer.
“You think you’re so smart, don’t you?” he spat. “You think you can just walk into our world and tear my family apart without consequences? My mother is Victoria Cole. She has destroyed people with ten times your resources. She’s already pulling strings to have you blacklisted from every consulting firm on the East Coast. By next week, you’ll be begging for a job fetching coffee.”
I didn't blink. I reached over, tapped my keyboard, and turned my monitor around so he could see it. It was an email from the executive search committee of Cole Meridian Holdings.
May you like
“Actually, Ethan,” I smiled, “your board just offered me a permanent position as Chief Restructuring Officer. They want me to clean up the mess you left behind. Now, get out of my office before I have security drag you out by your $2,000 lapels.”
He stared at the screen, the last remaining fight draining out of him. He turned and walked out the door, entirely defeated.
