Chapter 4 - The Purge
Victor didn't flinch, although the veins in his neck were pulsing rapidly against his collar.
"I did what had to be done to save this company, Adrian!" Victor snarled, dropping his respectful veneer.
"Your father spent forty years building an empire of fear. Since you married Elena, you went soft! You canceled high-risk maritime contracts! You started funneling millions into community trust funds and public clinics!"
"She made me human," Adrian said, standing slowly from his chair until he towered over the man who had worked beside his father for twenty years.
"And being human gets you killed in this town!" Victor yelled, taking a step toward the desk.
"Your father would turn in his grave seeing you wrapped around the finger of a schoolteacher from Lincoln Park! She was a weak point, Adrian! Anyone with leverage could have taken you down through her!"
"My wife was never a weak point," Adrian said, his voice dropping to a terrifying register.
"She was the only reason I didn't become a monster like my father."
Adrian reached into his drawer, pulled out the unsigned settlement copies, and tossed them into the burning fireplace behind him.
The heavy parchment caught fire instantly, curling into blackened ash within seconds.
"You have ten minutes to clear your belongings from this building," Adrian said, dialing the building's head of internal affairs.
"Every security credential you possess has just been revoked. Your bank accounts in Zurich and Grand Cayman are being frozen by court injunction for corporate espionage."
Victor's face went white with genuine terror. "Adrian, you can't freeze those accounts! That’s my retirement!"
"You tried to orphan my children before they were even born," Adrian whispered, leaning across the desk until their faces were inches apart.
"If you ever step foot within the state of Illinois again, I will release the complete audit of your private kickbacks to the federal prosecutor's office. You won't see daylight until you're seventy."
Two heavily armed internal security officers entered the office through the private lift, flanking Victor with practiced precision.
Without another word, Victor Sterling was stripped of his badges, escorted out of the penthouse suite, and cast out into the freezing Chicago rain.
May you like
Adrian collapsed into his chair, pressing his shaking hands over his face as the silence of the massive office swallowed him whole.
He had removed the snake from his garden, but the woman he worshipped was still out in the cold, carrying two fragile lives that he had nearly thrown away.
