Chapter 2 - The Shock in ChicagoAt 3:00 AM Chicago time—9:00 AM in London—the high-rise office of Walker & Associates in downtown Chicago was thrown into an unprecedented state of chaotic panic.
Ethan Walker sat behind his wide mahogany desk, his hair disheveled, his dark suit wrinkled, his bloodshot eyes staring frantically at his phone. Forty-nine missed calls. All ignored. All routed straight to an automated out-of-service signal.
"Did you check her apartment in Oak Park?!" Ethan shouted, slamming his hand flat onto the desk, scaring his junior associate. "Her mother’s house?! The local airports?!"
"Mr. Walker, we checked everywhere," his associate stammered, holding a tablet. "Her phone line was disconnected two hours ago. But... sir, you need to see the international legal wire that just arrived from London."
Ethan snatched the tablet from his hands.
Printed across the top in crisp, dark legal font was the royal crest of the High Court of Justice — Family Division, London:
PETITION FOR DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE & EMERGENCY CHILD CUSTODY ORDER
PETITIONER: CLAIRE VICTORIA QUINN (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, QUINN GLOBAL HOLDINGS)
RESPONDENT: ETHAN THOMAS WALKER
Ethan’s jaw sagged open. His face drained of every drop of color as if he had been struck across the chest with a heavy iron bar.
"Quinn... Global... Holdings?" Ethan choked out, his voice cracking into raspy, disbelieving fragments. "No... no, that's impossible! Claire is an elementary school teacher's daughter! She's a housewife! She doesn't have a company in London!"
Before his associate could answer, the double doors of his private office were thrown open with a loud, echoic crash.
Sophia Bennett marched inside, wearing a yellow designer suit, her face flushed with furious, manic outrage, holding her phone up like a weapon.
"Ethan!" Sophia shrieked, her voice echoing off the glass walls. "What the hell is going on?! Quinn Global just filed a twelve-point-five billion euro counter-bid for NordTech in Stockholm! They backed it with three billion in liquid gold reserves!"
Ethan stood up slowly, his hands trembling violently against his desk. "Sophia... look at this legal notice."
Sophia snatched the tablet, her eyes scanning the official royal seals. When her eyes landed on the name Claire Victoria Quinn, her manic rage withered into a pale, horrifying silence.
"Claire... is the Chief Executive Officer of Quinn Global...?" Sophia whispered, her voice trembling in utter shock.
"You said she was nobody, Sophia!" Ethan roared, his eyes wild with sudden, terrifying panic as three years of lies collapsed around his head. "You told me she was an ordinary girl from Illinois who had nowhere else to go! You told me to push her away so your father could secure the NordTech deal!"
"I didn't know!" Sophia screamed back, backing away from his desk. "My father's intelligence team said she was just a former corporate assistant!"
Before Ethan could say another word, his private desk phone rang with a sharp, piercing chime.
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He pressed the speaker button with a shaking finger.
"Mr. Walker?" the cold, British voice of Sir Edward from London echoed through the room. "This is lead counsel for Donna Claire Quinn. You are formally served with an international injunction. If you attempt to enter the United Kingdom or contact Miss Quinn or her daughter Lily... you will be arrested at Heathrow Airport for corporate espionage and domestic assault."
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