Chapter 3 - The Purge at the Buckhead EstateAt 9:00 AM the following morning, the sweeping, gated estate of Colton Beckett in Buckhead, Atlanta, was locked down by twenty armed Vance Security operatives.
Inside the grand marble kitchen, Jade Foresight stood beside two open leather suitcases, wearing an expensive designer coat, furiously attempting to pack gold jewelry, private ledgers, and offshore certificates.
"Tell the pilot to start the engines!" Jade shrieked into her phone. "Colton’s wife left him! He flew to Lisbon alone! We have the advantage!"
BOOM!
The heavy double glass doors of the foyer were thrown open with a violent impact!
Walking down the central hall, flanked by Marcus Vance and four federal marshals, was me.
I wore a tailored dark navy suit, my dark hair pulled back into a sleek, regal knot, holding my seventeen-day-old daughter Ren securely in a front-facing baby carrier against my chest.
Beside me walked Bridget Colton and a team of federal forensic accountants.
Jade dropped her phone onto the island counter. Her manicured fingers shook as her face turned an ugly, paper-white shade of green.
"L-Lauren...?" Jade stammered, taking two frantic steps backward. "What are you doing here?! This estate belongs to Colton!"
"This estate belongs to the Ren Bennett-Beckett Family Trust, Jade," I announced flatly, my clear, silver voice carrying cleanly across the silent room, dropping the temperature to zero. "And your twenty-four-hour performance in Atlanta is officially over."
Bridget Colton stepped forward, sliding a thick stack of court-stamped legal notices flat into Jade’s trembling hands:
IMMEDIATE EVICTION: Revocation of all security access and corporate passes granted to Jade Foresight across all Beckett Shipping terminals.
ASSET FORECLOSURE: Freezing of all bank accounts registered under Donald Foresight and Jade Foresight due to $85 million in embezzled maritime capital.
CRIMINAL ARREST WARRANTS: Federal warrants served on Donald Foresight and Jade Foresight for Extortion, Corporate Wire Fraud, and Syndicate Racketeering.
Jade’s manicured fingers shook furiously. "YOU CAN'T DO THIS! COLTON LOVES ME! HE CAME TO LISBON FOR ME!"
"He came to Lisbon to put your father in a federal cage, Jade," I answered, looking down at her with an absolute, clean, weightless disgust. "And now you can spend the next twenty years reflecting on it in a federal cell."
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Jade thrashed and shrieked hysterical, groveling pleas as federal marshals locked heavy steel handcuffs around her wrists behind her back, dragging her out of the Buckhead estate in total, public disgrace, while news cameras captured her complete downfall for the morning news.
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