Chapter 3 - The Unraveling at TechVista
Across town, in the sleek, glass-walled offices of TechVista Solutions, Sienna Brooks was having a wonderful morning.
She sat at her spacious corner desk on the third floor, sipping an iced caramel macchiato and browsing luxury European vacation websites on her dual-monitor setup. Ever since Bennett Capital Partners had acquired TechVista, rumors had been flying through the corporate grapevine about restructuring, but Sienna wasn't worried. Garrett had assured her repeatedly that his wife was too busy working to pay attention to middle-management payroll details, and since her direct supervisor, Harold Kim, routinely signed off on her fraudulent travel receipts without asking questions, she felt completely untouchable.
Her phone buzzed on the desk. A text message from Garrett: Thinking about you. Can't wait until we ditch her and move into that penthouse downtown. Love you.
Sienna smiled brightly, typing back a quick heart emoji. Life was working out precisely as she had planned.
Then, the frosted glass door of her private office swung open without a knock.
Sienna looked up, annoyance flashing across her face. Standing in the doorway wasn't Harold Kim, but two burly, unsmiling men in dark suits wearing corporate security badges, flanked by Sarah Jenkins, the senior vice president of Human Resources for Bennett Capital.
Sienna’s heart skipped a beat. She quickly minimized her browser window.
“Can I help you?” Sienna asked defensively, standing up from her chair. “If this is about the Q3 marketing budget, I already submitted the—'
“Sienna Brooks?” Sarah Jenkins interrupted, her voice crisp, cold, and entirely devoid of warmth as she stepped into the room.
“Yes?”
“Grab your personal belongings, log out of your corporate terminal, and surrender your access badge immediately,” Sarah commanded, dropping a thick manila folder onto the center of Sienna’s desk.
Sienna stared at her, dumbfounded. “What? Are you out of your mind? I am the Director of Brand Marketing! You can't just—do you know who I am? Do you know who I’m involved with—?”
“We know exactly who you are, Ms. Brooks,” Sarah said smoothly. “And we know precisely how many thousands of dollars in fraudulent travel expenses you billed to TechVista corporate accounts to fund your weekend trips with Garrett Bennett.”
The color drained entirely from Sienna’s face. Her mouth opened, but no words came out. The iced macchiato felt like lead in her stomach.
“Fraudulent... what? That’s an absurd accusation—!”
“It’s an open-and-shut case of corporate embezzlement,” Sarah replied, motioning to the security guards, who stepped closer. “The internal forensic audit conducted by Bennett Capital’s parent board has documented forty-two separate fraudulent transactions over the past fourteen months. Your termination is effective immediately, executed with cause. You have zero severance, your stock options are voided, and all evidence has been forwarded to the corporate legal division for potential criminal referral.”
“No—wait! You can’t do this!” Sienna shrieked, panic gripping her chest as the security guards stepped forward, gently but firmly taking her by the arms and lifting her out of her executive chair. “Let me call Garrett! Garrett will fix this! His wife owns this firm—she’ll listen to him—!”
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“Mr. Bennett’s relationship with the managing director of Bennett Capital Partners is currently terminating as well,” Sarah said with a thin, devastating smile. “Right around the time she files for divorce. Have a nice day, Ms. Brooks.”
Before Sienna could scream another protest, she was marched out of her corner office, past the stunned stares of her marketing team, and escorted straight out the front doors of the building into the cold Denver air—her corporate career evaporated into nothingness in less than five minutes.
