Chapter 7 - The Masterclass of Ruin
Gregory stared at the silver flash drive as if it were a venomous snake resting on his desk.
“I... I don't know what you’re talking about,” Gregory stammered, sweating profusely. “I don't know any Vanessa Thorne—”
“Vanessa Thorne was arrested yesterday evening by the Waterfront Commission,” Nora interrupted calmly, pulling a chair out and sitting down comfortably across from him. “She confessed to everything, Gregory. The three-million-dollar wire transfer. The offshore accounts. The plan to plant the leaked files in my personal bank records.”
Gregory’s jaw dropped. “She... she lied! She’s trying to drag me down with her!”
“She didn't lie,” Luca added smoothly from his chair, pulling a thick stack of printed financial documents from his coat. “Because my security team intercepted the digital signal from your office server two hours ago. We have the wire instructions, the IP routing logs, and three recorded phone calls between you and Vanessa detailing the entire conspiracy.”
Luca tossed the thick stack of papers onto the desk.
Gregory looked down at the top page. It was a printed transcript of a phone call he had made from his personal cell phone three nights ago, detailing his explicit desire to “send Nora to jail for the rest of her life.”
Gregory collapsed back into his leather chair, his breathing short, shallow, and frantic. “Nora... please. Listen to me. It was a mistake! I was desperate! The firm is going under—my investors were threatening to sue me—”
“I know,” Nora said softly, her eyes entirely cold. “You overextended yourself because you wanted everyone to think you were a big man, Gregory. You spent seven years tearing me down to hide the fact that you were incompetent.”
“Nora, we were married for seven years!” Gregory begged, reaching across the desk with trembling hands. “You loved me! You can't do this to me!”
Nora looked at his reaching hands, then slowly looked up into his weeping face.
“I didn't love you, Gregory,” Nora said clearly. “I loved the memory of who I thought you were. But you spent seven years teaching me that every flaw in our marriage was my fault. You told me my body was wrong. You told me my voice was too loud. You told me no one else would ever want me.”
She stood up slowly, smoothing down the front of her burgundy suit.
Luca stood up beside her, placing his massive hand on the small of her back. The contrast between them was striking—Nora glowing with power and beauty, Luca radiating absolute, lethal protection.
“Look at me, Gregory,” Nora commanded.
Gregory looked up through his tears.
“Look at my body,” Nora said, her voice ringing out through the glass office like a bell. “Look at my life. Look at the man who holds my hand. You told me I was damaged goods. But it turns out, Gregory... I was just way out of your league.”
She turned to Luca. “Are the federal agents downstairs?”
Luca checked his gold watch. “They just entered the lobby.”
Gregory gasped, stumbling around his desk and throwing himself onto his knees at Nora’s feet. “Nora! Please! Don't let them take me! I’ll give you back everything! I’ll pay you ten million dollars! Just tell the feds it was a misunderstanding!”
Nora looked down at her former husband kneeling on the carpet—a pathetic, broken worm weeping over his lost status.
She didn't feel anger anymore. She didn't feel hatred. She felt absolutely nothing at all.
“Page fourteen, Gregory,” Nora said softly, stepping around his trembling body. “The paperwork is finalized.”
She walked out of the office, her heels clicking authoritatively against the floor.
Behind her, Luca paused at the doorway, looking down at the weeping man on the floor.
May you like
“If you ever say my wife’s name again,” Luca whispered softly, “I won't send the feds next time.”
He stepped into the hallway, pulling the double glass doors shut behind him, leaving Gregory Whitmore alone in the ruin of his own creation.
