Chapter 4 - The Christmas Morning Nightmare
At six-thirty on Christmas morning, a blinding winter wind whipped across the frozen lawns of Lake Forest.
Daniel Mercer’s black Range Rover pulled into the driveway, its tires crunching heavily over the six inches of unplowed snow. Daniel stepped out of the vehicle, shivering in his wool coat. He had spent the night basking in Samantha’s adoring flattery, sipping vintage champagne, and feeling like the master of the universe. He had invented a charming story about an all-night restructuring marathon that he planned to recite over breakfast while his doting wife poured his coffee and his elderly mother beamed with maternal pride.
He walked up the grand limestone steps to the front entrance, humming a holiday tune under his breath.
He pressed his right thumb against the sleek digital scanner beside the door.
BEEP-BEEP-BEEP. A harsh red light flashed on the panel.
Daniel frowned. "Stupid sensor must be frozen," he muttered, wiping the glass pad with his glove. He tried his index finger.
ACCESS DENIED. USER PROTOCOL SUSPENDED.
"What the hell?" Daniel grunted, reaching into his pocket for his master keycard. He tapped the card against the sensor.
The digital pad went completely dark, letting out a piercing security chime that echoed across the quiet neighborhood.
Panicking slightly, Daniel pulled his brass emergency key from his ring, inserted it into the keyhole, and turned. It wouldn't budge. The key jammed completely after half a millimeter; the tumbler was entirely foreign.
He pulled out his phone to call Evelyn.
The screen buzzed violently in his palm before he could even dial.
It wasn't Evelyn. It was Arthur Vance, the sixty-eight-year-old chairman of the Mercer Vale executive board.
Daniel answered, forcing a chipper holiday tone. "Arthur! Merry Christmas, my friend! I was just about to call—"
"Shut up, Daniel," Arthur’s voice boomed through the receiver, shaking with an uncharacteristic, terrifying rage. "Are you out of your mind? Have you lost every shred of your sanity?!"
Daniel froze, the blood draining from his ears. "Arthur? What are you talking about?"
"Check your corporate inbox, you idiot!" Arthur shouted. "The entire board just received an emergency packet from your wife’s legal team! Unapproved corporate diversions! A three-hundred-and-fifty-thousand-dollar embezzlement scheme to buy a condominium for our communications director! And a notice that sixty percent of the fund’s voting capital has been placed into an immediate custodial freeze!"
"No... no, that's impossible," Daniel stammered, his knees nearly giving out on the icy porch. "Evelyn wouldn't do that! It's a misunderstanding!"
"It's not a misunderstanding, Daniel! The state compliance board is scheduling an emergency inquiry for Monday morning! The executive committee convened twenty minutes ago on an emergency teleconference. We have voted unanimously to strip you of all CEO authority and suspend your operational access immediately. Do not step foot inside the office. Do not contact any client. You are done."
The line went dead.
Daniel dropped the phone into the snow. He stumbled backward down the steps, his chest heaving as if he had just suffered a physical blow.
Just then, a silver town car pulled up to the gate. His mother, Eleanor Mercer, stepped out, carrying two wrapped holiday gift baskets, wearing her Sunday church coat.
"Daniel?" Eleanor called out, looking puzzled as she reached the locked iron gate. "Why are the gates closed? Why are you standing outside in the cold without your coat? Where is Evelyn?"
Daniel didn't answer. He ran around to the back patio, desperately looking for an open window, a cracked French door, anything.
Through the clear kitchen glass, illuminated by the red pilot light of the cold oven, he saw the silver tray sitting on the marble island.
He saw his cut credit cards.
He saw his revoked keycards.
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And resting right in the center was the high-resolution photograph of him embracing Samantha Cole on the balcony of The Bellamy.
Daniel dropped to his knees in the freezing snow, clutching his head in his hands, screaming an agonizing, helpless cry into the empty winter sky as the full magnitude of his destruction washed over him.
