Chapter 7 - The Cornered Wolf
Over the next forty-eight hours, the collapse of Whitfield Capital dominated the headlines of the Wall Street Journal and the Chicago Tribune. Major institutional clients pulled their assets en masse, triggering a catastrophic run on the firm's private liquidity. By Sunday night, Garrett Flynn had signed a cooperation agreement with federal prosecutors, placing the entire blame for the Asteria Holdings embezzlement squarely on Declan and Petra.
Declan sat in the Evanston mansion, surrounded by empty bourbon bottles and legal briefs. The electricity had been turned off in half the house due to frozen corporate accounts. He had spent the last two days calling every business contact, banker, and private equity partner he had known for fifteen years.
Not a single person picked up his calls.
Around midnight, a key turned in the front lock. Declan jumped up, thinking it was Celeste returning to negotiate.
Instead, Petra walked in, dragging two oversized suitcases behind her. She was wearing sunglasses at midnight, her face drawn and furious.
"Petra," Declan breathed, reaching toward her. "Thank God. We need to liquidate your offshore accounts in the Caymans. If we can pool twelve million—"
"Are you insane?" Petra pulled away from his grasp with open disgust. "My accounts? Those are my consulting fees, Declan! I gave six months of my life to your pathetic firm, and now the SEC has frozen my personal assets in Illinois! The press is camped outside my parents' home in Boston!"
Declan stared at her, stunned. "We were partners! You told me you loved me! You said we were going to conquer this city together!"
"I loved the managing partner of a billion-dollar private equity firm," Petra hissed, pulling off her sunglasses to reveal cold, venomous eyes. "I didn't sign up to go down with a bankrupt felon facing wire fraud charges. I'm taking the midnight flight to London before the feds revoke my passport."
"You can't leave me!" Declan yelled, grabbing her arm. "I gave up my wife for you! I gave up my daughter for you!"
Petra yanked her arm free with such force that Declan stumbled against the foyer table, knocking over a crystal vase that shattered across the hardwood floor.
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"You didn't give them up for me, Declan," Petra spat, glaring at him with utter contempt. "You gave them up because you're a vain, arrogant coward who wanted a younger woman to stroke your dying ego. Enjoy prison."
She wheeled her suitcases out the door, slamming it shut behind her, leaving Declan alone in the dark, bleeding from a small shard of glass on his palm.
