Chapter 4 - The Scavenger’s Request
By seven o'clock the following morning, the news of the scandal had reached a fever pitch globally.
The video clip of Saraphina Rivers shoving the pregnant wife of CEO Matthew Hayes and kicking her on the floor had been viewed over eighty million times. Public outrage was immediate and ferocious. Protesters gathered outside the corporate headquarters of Hayes Tech, demanding Matthew’s immediate resignation, while the company’s stock plummeted by forty-two percent in pre-market trading.
Inside the quiet luxury of the hospital penthouse, Elise sat propped up on plush pillows, eating a bowl of warm organic soup brought in by a private chef. The color had begun to return to her cheeks, though her body still ached with a dull, deep pain.
Julian stood near the window, reviewing documents on an iPad, while Marcus guarded the heavy wooden doors outside.
Suddenly, a commotion flared in the hallway.
“I am her husband!” Matthew’s panicked voice echoed through the double doors. “You can't keep me out of my wife’s hospital room! I have legal rights! Call the police!”
“Mr. Hayes,” Marcus’s cold, unyielding voice replied. “If you step another inch toward that door, I will exercise my right to defend this private property with necessary force.”
In the room, Elise’s breath caught in her throat. Her body tensed instinctively, her hands tightly clutching the edge of the blanket.
Julian looked up from his tablet, his eyes instantly catching her distress. He walked over to her bed, his presence instantly radiating a calm, absolute security.
“Do you want to see him?” Julian asked gently. “You hold complete authority here, Elise. If you say no, he will be removed from the building within ten seconds.”
Elise looked down at her hands. The platinum wedding ring on her left finger felt cold, heavy, and completely meaningless. She felt no anger, no panic—only a profound, hollow disappointment for the boy she had once loved who had turned into a monster of ambition.
“Let him in,” Elise whispered softly. “I need to look him in the eye one last time.”
Julian nodded once to Marcus.
The heavy door opened, and Matthew Hayes practically stumbled into the room.
He looked terrible. His hair was messy, his expensive suit wrinkled, and deep purple bags hung beneath his bloodshot eyes. He looked around the hyper-luxurious room in shock, his eyes finally landing on Elise sitting in the bed—and then freezing on Julian Vance standing like a guardian tower beside her.
“Elise!” Matthew cried out, attempting to rush toward the bed with a look of frantic concern. “My God, Elise! Are you okay? The news said... they said horrible things! I’ve been trying to reach you all night!”
“Stop right there, Matthew,” Elise said. Her voice was quiet, but it contained a cold, unyielding authority he had never heard from her before.
Matthew stopped five feet from the bed, his hands trembling. “Elise, baby... you have to listen to me. Last night was a total setup! Saraphina... she’s crazy! She tricked me! I didn't know she was going to attack you like that! I was in shock!”
“You watched her do it,” Elise said flatly, staring at him with calm, devastating clarity. “You watched her kick me while I was bleeding on the floor. And you stood there because you were afraid of what a scene would do to your stock price.”
Matthew’s face flushed red with shame. “Elise, please! You know how important the AI division launch is! Everything we’ve built—our whole life—depends on this company!”
“Your company, Matthew,” she corrected softly. “You never built anything for us. You built it for your ego.”
Desperate, Matthew turned his attention toward Julian Vance, his posture shifting into a pathetic, pleading stance.
“Mr. Vance... please, you’re a businessman,” Matthew stammered, sweating through his shirt collar. “You know how brutal the press can be! Hayes Tech is down forty percent. Our lead investors are pulling out. If... if Elise comes out of the hospital with me, holds a press conference, and says it was all a tragic accident... we can save the company!”
A heavy, suffocating silence fell over the room.
Julian slowly turned his head toward Matthew, his expression so terrifyingly cold that the air in the room felt frozen.
“You came here,” Julian whispered, every word dripping with lethal contempt, “not to ask if your unborn daughter survived. Not to check if your wife’s internal bleeding stopped. You came here to ask a traumatized, injured woman to lie to the world so you can protect your stock portfolio.”
“It’s our child’s future!” Matthew yelled defensively. “If the company goes bankrupt, how am I supposed to provide for this baby?”
“You won't have to worry about providing for her,” Elise spoke up, her voice steady and absolute.
She reached up to her left hand, slowly slid the heavy platinum wedding band off her finger, and tossed it casually onto the nightstand beside his hand. It made a sharp, metallic ring against the wood.
“I want a divorce, Matthew,” Elise said, looking at him with complete detachment. “Full legal and physical custody of our daughter. I don't want your money. I don't want your stock. I just want you out of our lives forever.”
Matthew stared at the ring on the table, his face turning pale with fury and panic. “You can't do this! I’m her father! I’ll hire the best lawyers in the city! I’ll fight you for custody! You have no job, Elise! No income! No leverage!”
“She has me,” Julian Vance stepped forward, placing his hand gently on Elise’s shoulder.
Julian looked down at Matthew like a man looking at an insect beneath his shoe.
“I have just acquired fifty-one percent of the debt obligations of Hayes Tech through my holding firm, Matthew,” Julian said quietly. “By noon today, I will declare your firm in default. You are fired as CEO. Your assets are frozen. And if you ever approach Elise or her daughter again, I will personally fund a legal battle that will leave you bankrupt and living in a shelter for the rest of your natural life.”
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Julian pointed a single finger toward the open door.
“Get out of my hospital.”
