Chapter 5 - The Corporate PurgeBy Friday afternoon, the corporate headquarters of Wentworth Infrastructure was humming with a tense, hushed energy.
Word of the federal raids, the arrest of my executive assistant Jonathan Hayes, and the simultaneous indictment of my mother and sister had swept through the financial district like wildfire. Financial journalists camped outside our glass-walled lobby, snapping photographs of federal agents carrying boxes of evidence out of our executive suites.
I stood on the forty-eighth floor, looking out over the panoramic skyline of the city through floor-to-ceiling glass windows, holding a secure encrypted phone to my ear.
— The federal prosecutor’s office has officially upgraded the charges against Margaret and Carla Wentworth to include conspiracy to commit premeditated murder, wire fraud, and grand larceny, — my lead corporate attorney, Evelyn Vance, reported crisp and clear through the receiver. — With the high-definition video evidence you captured, combined with the hospital toxicology reports and the paper trail of Jonathan’s bank deposits, there is zero chance of bail, and a plea deal won't even be offered. They are facing multiple consecutive life sentences.
— Make sure the prosecution presses for maximum sentencing without parole, — I instructed calmly. — I want no leniency, no family considerations, and no backroom deals.
— Understood, Mr. Wentworth. The legal filings are already locked in.
I ended the call and turned away from the window just as my office door swung open.
Marcus stepped inside, holding a final clearance dossier.
— All residential security protocols at the Paradise Valley estate have been upgraded to maximum military-grade standards, boss, — Marcus reported. — Biometric entry locks, private 24-hour armed perimeter patrols, and a dedicated medical-grade air filtration system installed throughout the master wing. Nobody gets within five hundred yards of Mrs. Wentworth or the nursery without your direct biometric authorization.
— Good, — I nodded. — And what about the estate itself?
— We’ve cleared out every single personal item belonging to your mother and sister. Their rooms have been stripped bare, fumigated, and repurposed into guest suites for the nursing staff.
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I let out a slow, steady breath. The physical and emotional cleansing of my life was finally complete. The parasites who had fed off my success while plotting our destruction had been permanently excised from our world.
Now, there was only one place I needed to be.
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