Chapter 3 - Dismantling the Crown
“This is an outrage!” Richard Cole bellowed, his face turning a deep, apoplectic shade of purple as he stormed toward Dominic. “You think you can waltz in here and ruin a lifetime of hard work over a domestic dispute? Adrian is her husband! A husband has the right to discipline his wife when she acts out of line!”
The moment those words left Richard’s mouth, the air in the room turned lethal.
Matteo moved with blinding speed. Before Richard could blink, Matteo grabbed his father-in-law by the silk lapels of his designer suit, lifted him off his feet with casual strength, and slammed him down against the heavy mahogany dining table. Crystal wine glasses shattered into a thousand glittering pieces under the impact.
“Discipline?” Matteo snarled, pressing a heavy forearm against Richard’s throat, pinning him flat. “You call whipping a woman thirty times discipline? In our family, we feed men like you to the marine life.”
“Stop! Please!” Vanessa screamed, dropping to her knees near the champagne tower, tears streaming down her carefully made-up face. “I didn't mean for this to happen! It was just a glass of wine! It was an accident!”
I looked down at her, my expression entirely devoid of pity. “You spent eight months flaunting your affair in my face, Vanessa, sending me anonymous photos and mocking texts while sleeping in guest suites on properties my family's investments indirectly supported. Don't talk to me about accidents.”
Adrian, realizing his entire world was collapsing into dust, dropped his corporate facade entirely. He fell to his knees beside Vanessa, looking up at me with desperate, pleading eyes.
“Elena... please,” Adrian whimpered, his voice cracking pathetically. “We’ve been married for three years. We built a life together! You love this family—you know how hard I worked to build Cole Holdings! Tell your brothers to stop! We can fix this! We can go on a trip, we can—we can start over!”
I walked slowly toward him, my heels clicking rhythmically against the marble floor. I stopped just inches away, looking down at the man who had ordered me to be tied to a beam and whipped like an animal just an hour ago.
“You told me I came from nothing,” I said softly, my voice carrying the chill of winter. “You told me I should be grateful you allowed me into your world. But the truth is, Adrian... you were never in my league. You were just a project I hadn't finished evaluating yet.”
Gabriel stepped forward, handing me a thick stack of printed documents pulled straight from his briefcase. I let them flutter from my hand, the pages scattering like autumn leaves over Adrian and Vanessa’s laps.
“What... what are these?” Adrian whispered, trembling as he looked at the top page.
“That is the complete structural breakdown of Cole Holdings,” Gabriel explained smoothly. “Every subsidiary, every shell company, every fraudulent loan. Within forty-eight hours, your family won't just be bankrupt—you’ll be facing federal prison time for racketeering, tax evasion, and corporate endangerment.”
Margaret Cole clutched her pearls, gasping for air before collapsing in a dead faint onto the plush Persian rug. Not a single guest moved to help her. They were all too paralyzed by fear to care.
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“Dom,” I said, turning my gaze to my eldest brother. “I think the air in here is getting a bit foul.”
Dominic nodded once. He gestured to the tactical team. “Clear the room of guests. Escort the Cole family to the basement holding cells. We have a lot of paperwork to review before sunrise.”
