Chapter 4 - THE AUDIT OF RECKONING
"Closed?!" Brent gasped from the floor, his eyes wide with horror. "Ms. Vale, you can't close the 57th Street flagship! We do forty million dollars a quarter in volume!"
"I am not closing it permanently, Brent," I said coldness radiating from every word. "I am closing it today for a comprehensive, top-to-bottom corporate audit."
I turned to Marcus Vance, who was standing straight as a board, taking mental notes with terrified precision.
"Marcus," I ordered. "Step one: Security locks the front doors right now. Nobody leaves this building until corporate HR arrives. Step two: Brent Lawson is terminated immediately for gross misconduct, physical aggression toward a visitor, and violation of corporate non-discrimination policies. File his termination as 'For Cause.' He will receive no severance, no remaining commission payouts, and I want our legal team to review his sales records for the last twenty-four months for commission fraud."
Brent let out a choking sound. "No! Ms. Vale, please! My house! My car payments! I have three children in private school! You can't ruin my life over a mistake!"
"You didn't make a mistake, Brent," I said, looking down at him. "You showed me who you are when you think nobody with power is watching. You judged a person’s worth by the wool of her coat. Now you can experience what it feels like to start over from nothing."
Two armed corporate security guards stepped forward, grabbed Brent under his arms, and hauled him off his knees. He didn't even fight back as they dragged him toward the back management offices, his shoes dragging uselessly against the marble.
Jason watched Brent being dragged away, his heart pounding against his ribs so loudly he was certain everyone in the room could hear it.
He looked at me, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water.
"Lily..." Jason began, stepping toward me again, his hands shaking violently. "Lily, listen to me. Please. We spent four years together. Four years! You know me! You know how hard I worked! I was scared, Lily! I was terrified of being poor forever! When Vanessa came along, she offered me a shortcut, and I was stupid! I was foolish! But it was always you! I never stopped thinking about you!"
Vanessa spun around, her eyes flashing with rage. "What did you just say, Jason?!"
Jason didn't even look at her. He completely ignored the woman he had spent the last three months boasting about.
"Vanessa means nothing to me!" Jason yelled, his voice desperate, pathetic, and echoing through the high ceilings. "I don't care about her family's logistics company! Lily, I love you! I've always loved you! Remember our nights in Queens? Remember when we shared that six-dollar pizza on the fire escape? That was real, Lily! We can have that back! Only now... now we don't have to struggle!"
Vanessa stood frozen, her face red with humiliation. "Jason, you disgusting, opportunistic snake!" She lifted her hand and slapped him across the face with a loud, cracking SNAP.
Jason’s head snapped to the side, but he barely reacted. He kept his eyes locked on mine, tears streaming down his face, completely abandoning every ounce of dignity he possessed.
"Lily, please," Jason sobbed, dropping to his knees right where Brent had been kneeling moments before. He reached out, trying to grab the hem of my plain cream coat. "Give me another chance. I'll throw away everything. I'll quit my job at Apex. I'll do whatever you want. Just don't do this to me."
I stepped back, pulling my coat out of his reach.
"You're right about one thing, Jason," I said softly. "The six-dollar pizza on the fire escape was real. My love for you was real. I would have given you the world. I would have built an empire with you. But you didn't want to build an empire. You wanted to buy one with someone else's money."
I took a deep breath, looking down at the man I had once believed was my soulmate.
"Marcus," I called out.
"Yes, Ms. Vale?"
"Who is the lead managing director at Apex Capital?" I asked.
Marcus blinked, thinking quickly. "That would be Richard Vance... my elder brother, Ms. Vale. Apex Capital’s primary institutional investor is Vale Meridian’s private equity trust. We hold forty-five percent of their limited partnership shares."
Jason’s eyes opened wide with absolute terror.
"Call your brother, Marcus," I said, my voice as cold as absolute zero. "Tell him that Senior Analyst Jason Mercer’s employment at Apex Capital poses a severe reputational risk to our joint investment portfolio. Tell him I want Mr. Mercer’s corporate access revoked before he leaves this building."
"No!" Jason screamed, scrambling forward on his knees. "No, Lily! Don't do that! Please! I worked three years to pass my Series 7! I worked eighty hours a week at Apex! If you get me fired from Apex, I'll be blacklisted across the entire financial district! No firm in Wall Street will ever touch me!"
"You wanted ambition, Jason," I said, staring into his panicked eyes. "You wanted to play in the big leagues with connections, private clubs, and investment circles. Welcome to the big leagues. In this world, your reputation is everything. And yours is currently worth less than those coins on the floor."
Marcus immediately pulled out his encrypted satellite phone, dialed a speed-dial number, and held it to his ear.
"Richard?" Marcus said into the receiver, his tone crisp and professional. "It's Marcus. I'm standing with Executive Vice President Lillian Vale at the 57th Street flagship. We have an emergency compliance issue regarding one of your junior analysts, Jason Mercer..."
Jason let out a gutteral, broken cry. He collapsed forward, his forehead pressing against the cold marble floor, right next to the scattered quarters he had thrown at me ten minutes ago.
Vanessa looked at Jason with utter disgust, adjusted her designer coat, and turned toward the exit.
"Where do you think you're going, Miss DuPont?" I asked, turning my eyes to her.
Vanessa froze, her hand hovering over the door’s proximity sensor. She slowly turned back to face me, trying desperately to summon her usual arrogant posture.
"You can't do anything to me, Lily," Vanessa scoffed, her voice trembling slightly despite her efforts. "I don't work for your company. My family doesn't owe you anything. We own DuPont Logistics. We have our own money."
I offered her a tiny, deadly smile.
"DuPont Logistics," I murmured, tapping my chin thoughtfully. "If I remember correctly, DuPont Logistics handles sixty percent of the regional freight transport for Vale Meridian's assembly plant in Newark, New Jersey. The contract is up for renewal next month, isn't it?"
Vanessa’s breath hitched in her throat. Her face turned as pale as Jason's.
May you like
"My father..." Vanessa stuttered, her arrogance completely evaporating. "My father spent two years negotiating that contract..."
"Then I suggest you call your father right now, Vanessa," I said sweetly. "And tell him that his daughter’s taste in men just cost his company a forty-million-dollar annual shipping contract."
