Chapter 2 - The Erasing of the MorrisonsBrendan stood frozen in the middle of the dining room, staring at his phone screen as if the glowing red termination notices were written in an ancient, incompreable language.
"Cassidy..." Brendan stammered, taking a frantic step toward me, his hands raised in a desperate, pleading gesture. "Cassidy, wait... this is a joke, right? You're playing some kind of insane prank because you're mad about the water!"
"Does Marcus Sterling look like a prank to you, Brendan?" I asked smoothly, adjusting the lapels of the cashmere coat around my shoulders.
Marcus stepped between us, his broad chest forming an impenetrable wall. "Mr. Morrison, under Section 12 of your executive employment agreement, your access to all Vanguard properties is revoked. You have four minutes to surrender your corporate phone, your house keys, and the keys to the company-leased vehicles parked in the driveway."
"House keys?!" Diane shrieked, her voice degenerating into a pathetic, unhinged scream. "This is MY house! My late husband bought this estate fifteen years ago!"
"Your late husband took a twenty-two-million-dollar mortgage from Vanguard Commercial Capital twelve years ago, Mrs. Morrison," Arthur’s voice carried smoothly through the speakerphone resting on the glass table. "A mortgage that was transferred directly into Chairman Cassidy’s private holding account four years ago when she restructured the company’s debt."
Arthur's voice was flat, professional, and entirely devoid of warmth.
"As of six minutes ago," Arthur continued, "due to a severe breach of the corporate ethics clause and direct physical harassment of the Chairman, Vanguard Commercial Capital has executed an immediate foreclosure default. You have until eight o'clock tomorrow morning to clear your personal belongings from the property."
Diane’s knees visibly buckled. She collapsed back into her dining chair, clutching her chest, gasping for air as if she were drowning in the middle of her own dining room.
Jessica turned on Brendan like a venomous snake, her manicured fingers digging violently into his arm. "You told me she was a nobody! You told me her family was dead and she had no money! You told me I was going to be the wife of the CEO!"
"Shut up, Jessica!" Brendan snapped, shoving her hand away, his face contorted in pure, unadulterated panic. He looked back at me, his eyes bloodshot, filled with a sickening mix of terror and sudden, groveling humility.
"Cassidy... please," Brendan wept, dropping to his knees right there on the wet Persian rug, right in front of the bucket of filthy ice water his mother had dumped over my head ten minutes earlier. "Cassidy, look at me... I'm the father of your baby! We were married for three years! You can't do this to us! We're family!"
I looked down at the man who had sat by and laughed while his mother humiliated his pregnant wife.
I looked at his polished shoes, resting in the puddle of filthy water that had soaked through my clothes.
"Ten minutes ago, Brendan," I murmured, my baritone quiet, cold, and echoing off the grand marble walls, "you gave me twenty dollars for a cab and told me to leave."
I turned my back on him.
"Marcus," I commanded cleanly. "Have the legal team seize the Morrison Logistics server keys. And make sure the press receives the official executive termination notice before the stock market opens in New York tomorrow morning."
May you like
"Understood, Chairman," Marcus bowed respectfully.
"Cassidy! No! Please! CASSSIDY!" Brendan screamed, reaching out to grab the hem of my coat, but two uniformed security officers grabbed his arms, pinning his shoulders back as Marcus escorted me out through the grand double doors into the cool, sunlit evening air.
Related Stories
