Chapter 4 - Illusions of Grandeur
Trevor didn't remember walking out of the mall.
He only remembered the blinding panic that propelled his feet forward until he found himself sitting in the driver’s seat of his leased Mercedes in the underground parking garage. His hands gripped the steering wheel so hard his knuckles were chalk-white. His breathing was ragged, shallow, rattling in his throat.
"It’s a bluff," Trevor muttered out loud, trying to steady the frantic rhythm of his heart. "It’s a goddamn bluff. Sadi? Married to *Roman Moretti*? It’s absurd!"
He laughed, a shrill, hysterical sound echoing off the concrete walls of the parking garage. Sadi had grown up in foster homes. She didn't know the difference between a salad fork and a dessert spoon. She had panic attacks whenever the grocery bill exceeded fifty bucks. How could a woman like that ever cross paths with the most notorious kingpin in the state?
"He’s just an actor," Trevor told himself, desperately weaving a tapestry of delusion to protect his crumbling psyche. "Or some high-end loan shark she got mixed up with. Yeah. That’s it. She got into trouble, hired some tough guys to scare me because she found out I made partner track."
He adjusted his tie in the rearview mirror, smoothing down his slicked hair. His phone buzzed on the passenger seat.
It was Chloe.
Trevor scoffed and swiped answer. "Chloe, listen, that was totally blown out of proportion—"
"Don't ever call me again, Trevor," her voice came through sharp, panicked, and venomous. "My father just called me. He asked why the hell I was at the galleria with someone who just insulted Roman Moretti’s wife. He told me if I ever associate with you again, he’s cutting my trust fund."
"Chloe, wait! It was an act! She's my ex—"
*Click.*
The line went dead.
Trevor stared at the glowing screen. A drop of cold sweat ran down the back of his neck. *No. It can't be real.*
His phone buzzed again. This time, the caller ID showed the private line of Raymond Hayes—the senior founding partner of Sterling & Hayes.
Trevor cleared his throat instantly, adopting his best deferential corporate tone. "Mr. Hayes! Good afternoon, sir. I was just reviewing the closing documents for the Harbor Tower acquisition—"
"Get out of the building," Hayes’s voice roared through the speaker, vibrating with an unholy fury that made Trevor flinch away from the phone.
"Sir?"
"Security has already cleared your desk. Your personal items are in a cardboard box on the sidewalk outside the lobby. If your face is caught on the firm's security cameras after 5:00 PM, I will have you arrested for criminal trespassing!"
"Mr. Hayes, please! What happened? Is this about the mall? It was an accident! I didn't know who she was—"
"You kicked the wife of the man who controls our entire institutional financing portfolio, you brainless parasite!" Hayes screamed. "Do you have any idea what you've done? The Moretti Syndicate just pulled fifty million dollars in escrow! They are auditing every single case file you’ve touched in the last two years! If they find a single misplaced decimal point, Roman won't just sue us into oblivion—he’ll feed us to the fishes!"
"Mr. Hayes—"
"You’re fired, Trevor. Disbarred, if I have anything to say about it. Do not contact me. Do not contact anyone in this firm. Lose this number before I send people to make sure you can't dial it."
The call terminated with a final, brutal click.
Trevor sat frozen in his car. The silence inside the vehicle was deafening.
In the span of thirty minutes, his entire life—his status, his career, his wealthy socialite girlfriend, his golden future—had vanished into thin air.
All because of a girl in sneakers and an oversized sweater.
A dark, boiling rage began to overtake his terror. It wasn't fair. He had worked so hard to climb out of the gutter. He was supposed to be the winner! He was the one who had left *her* behind! How dare she rise higher than him? How dare she look down on him from an ivory tower built by a gangster?
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"This isn't over," Trevor hissed, slamming his fists onto the steering wheel until the horn blared loudly into the concrete void. "You think you won, Sadi? You think you can destroy me and just walk away? We’ll see about that."
***
