Chapter 5 - THE DESPERATE CORNER
The fallout from the boardroom ambush sent shockwaves through Manhattan's financial district. By Tuesday afternoon, news of the SEC investigation hit the front pages. Three board members resigned under pressure, and Caleb’s name was dragged through the mud across every financial network.
He was ruined. His bank accounts had been frozen pending the federal fraud investigation, his luxury vehicle was repossessed due to missed lease payments tied to Vance accounts, and Vanessa had filed a restraining order against him after he showed up at her apartment demanding she return the diamond necklace he had bought her with stolen money.
Caleb was living out of a cheap airport motel, his dislocated arm wrapped in an ugly medical sling, drinking cheap whiskey from paper cups.
Desperation is a dangerous drug. When a man loses his wealth, his status, and his pride all in seventy-two hours, he doesn't think about consequences anymore. He thinks about revenge.
It was 9:00 PM on Wednesday night. I was staying at the Vance Estate, sitting in the nursery we had designed six months ago. The walls were painted a soft pastel green, and a white wooden crib sat in the center of the room.
I was folding tiny cotton baby clothes, trying to find a sense of peace amidst the storm. My baby was due in less than four weeks now. My doctor had warned me earlier that morning that my blood pressure was dangerously elevated and that I needed absolute bed rest.
Suddenly, the lights throughout the entire estate flickered and died.
The nursery plunged into pitch blackness.
I froze, holding a small pink blanket against my chest. The silence of the huge house was deafening.
Downstairs, the gentle hum of the emergency backup generator should have kicked in within five seconds. It didn't. Someone had manually cut the primary circuit and disabled the generator feed.
My phone screen lit up on the changing table. It was a text message from Marcus:
ELLIE! MAIN GATE POWER WAS CUT FROM OUTSIDE. CAMERAS ARE DOWN. I’M MOVING UP TO THE SECOND FLOOR NOW. LOCK THE NURSERY DOOR!
Before I could reach the door, I heard the sound of heavy footsteps running up the main wooden staircase. They were fast, heavy, and chaotic.
I threw the brass deadbolt into place just as a heavy shoulder slammed into the outside of the thick oak door.
BOOM.
The wood groaned, but the lock held.
“Eleanor!” Caleb’s voice screamed through the door. He sounded completely unhinged, wild, and breathless. “Open the door, Eleanor!”
“Caleb!” I shouted, stepping back toward the crib, my hand clutching my belly as a sharp contraction rippled through my lower back. “Marcus is in the house! The police are on their way! Leave now!”
“Marcus is outside dealing with the flare flares I dropped in the east wing!” Caleb laughed hysterically, slamming his body against the door again. BOOM. “He’s distracted! It’s just you and me, Ellie! Just like old times!”
The wooden frame around the lock splintered. A second later, a heavy iron crowbar smashed through the center panel of the door. Caleb’s hand reached through the broken wood, fumbling for the interior deadbolt.
I looked around the room in a panic. There were no weapons. Just baby furniture, plush toys, and a silver lamp on the bedside table.
I grabbed the heavy metal lamp, ripping the cord from the wall outlet.
The deadbolt clicked open.
The door burst open, and Caleb stumbled into the room.
He was unrecognizable. His eyes were wide and bloodshot, his clothes torn and stained with grease, his face covered in dark stubble. He looked like a madman. In his left hand, he held a thick manila envelope and a pen.
“You destroyed me!” Caleb yelled, stepping into the dim moonlight filtering through the nursery window. “You took my money! You took my reputation! Sterling called me a dead weight and cut me off! I have nothing left!”
“You did this to yourself, Caleb!” I said, retreating until my back hit the nursery wall near the crib. A second, stronger contraction gripped my stomach, making me gasp in pain.
“Sign these!” Caleb screamed, tossing the manila envelope onto the changing table. “It’s a power of attorney transfer! You sign it, and I take control of the estate assets! I can get out of the country before the SEC indictment drops! Sign it, or neither of us leaves this room!”
“I’m in labor, Caleb,” I gasped, clutching my bump, tears streaming down my face from the sudden, unbearable pain. “Call an ambulance... please...”
Caleb stared at me, a cruel, mocking smile spreading across his face. “Labor? Good! Sign the papers, and I’ll call the paramedics myself. Don't sign them, and you can watch your little baby die right here on this carpet while you bleed out!”
He was monster. Total, absolute monster.
He stepped toward me, grabbing my wrist with his left hand and shoving the pen into my fingers. “Sign it, Eleanor! SIGN IT!”
I looked down at the pen. Then I looked at Caleb’s grinning face.
Using every ounce of strength I had left, I didn't sign the paper. I drove the sharp metal point of the pen directly into Caleb’s thigh.
Caleb shrieked in pain, letting go of my wrist and stumbling backward, clutching his leg as blood soaked through his jeans.
At that exact moment, Marcus burst into the nursery through the broken doorway.
Without hesitation, Marcus delivered a spinning side-kick directly to Caleb’s chest. The force of the strike lifted Caleb off his feet, sending him crashing backward through the nursery window.
Glass shattered into thousands of glowing shards in the moonlight. Caleb screamed as he tumbled through the window, landing heavily on the slate roof of the lower patio twelve feet below before sliding off into the bushes.
Marcus didn't even look out the window. He dropped his weapon and rushed to my side, catching me as my legs gave out from under me.
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“Ellie! Ellie, look at me!” Marcus shouted, clutching my shoulders.
“The baby...” I sobbed, clutching my lower abdomen as another overwhelming contraction racked my body. “Marcus... the baby is coming now!”
