Chapter 7 - The Uninvited Guests
The sight of the police uniforms sent shockwaves through the penthouse.
Chloe instantly grabbed her sons, pulling them behind her with a yelp of panic. Roberta froze, her hands clutched against her chest, her arrogant facade cracking down the middle.
Wade, desperate to salvage his dignity in front of his CEO, stepped forward, his chest puffed out in a pathetic display of authority.
"What is the meaning of this?" Wade barked, pointing a trembling finger at Maya and the officers. "Who authorized you to enter my private residence? Officer, I am an executive vice president at Sterling Logistics! I demand you remove these people from my home immediately!"
"Actually, Mr. Mitchell," Officer Martinez said, consulting a legal clipboard in his hands, "you aren't an executive of this building, and you certainly don't own this residence."
Maya stepped past the officers, clicking her heels sharply against the hardwood floor. She locked eyes with Arthur Sterling, nodding politely. "Mr. Sterling, Mrs. Sterling. A pleasure to see you under these... dramatic circumstances."
"Maya Vance," Arthur said, recognizing the city’s top corporate litigator. "What is going on here?"
"What is going on, Mr. Sterling, is the systematic dismantling of a criminal fraud ring," Maya said, opening her briefcase and pulling out a sheaf of certified documents.
She turned to Wade, who looked like he was about to vomit.
"Wade Mitchell," Maya began, her voice ringing clear and authoritative through the massive room. "I am serving you with a temporary order of protection issued by the New York County Family Court, Docket Number 4482. You are ordered to vacate these premises immediately and maintain a distance of no less than five hundred yards from Ivy Chen and your minor child, Leo Mitchell."
"Protection order?" Wade gasped, his voice cracking. "On what grounds? She’s my wife! This is my house!"
"This is not your house," Maya countered, slapping a certified copy of the deed onto the dining room table right in front of Arthur Sterling. "As evidenced by the New York City Department of Finance records, the sole owner of Penthouse 42-A at Riverview Tower is the Chen Family Legacy Trust, established solely by Ivy Chen in 2021. You have zero equity, zero title, and zero leasehold interest in this property."
"She’s lying!" Roberta shrieked, lunging toward the table. "They’re married! Everything is fifty-fifty! Wade, show them the papers! Show them the quitclaim deed!"
"You mean this quitclaim deed?" Maya asked, pulling a duplicate copy from her folder and holding it up for Arthur Sterling and the board members to see. "The document Wade attempted to coerce his recovering wife into signing ten days postpartum? The document drafted by an unlicensed paralegal attempting to illegally transfer fifty percent of a pre-marital separate asset without consideration?"
Arthur Sterling reached out, took the paper from Maya’s hand, and adjusted his reading glasses. As he read the predatory clauses, his face darkened from pale shock to volcanic rage.
"And that," Maya continued, turning her gaze toward Roberta, "is only the civil matter. Officer Rodriguez, if you would."
The second police officer stepped forward, pulling a pair of steel handcuffs from his utility belt.
"Roberta Mitchell," Officer Rodriguez said in a flat, clinical tone. "You are under arrest for third-degree assault, reckless endangerment, and harassment."
Roberta shrieked, backing away toward the sofa. "Arrest? Me? On what charges? What did I do?"
"On Saturday morning, October 14th," Maya stated, "you intentionally emptied a gallon of ice water over the head and surgical incision of a patient ten days post-C-section, resulting in acute physical trauma and localized cellulitis. We have the emergency room medical affidavit, the home security audio recording, and your own public admission made less than two minutes ago in front of six independent witnesses."
Roberta’s eyes darted wildly around the room. "Wade! Wade, do something! Tell them they can't do this to your mother!"
Wade was hyperventilating, his hands shaking so violently he dropped his champagne flute. The crystal shattered across the floor, the liquid splashing over his designer loafers.
"Wait... please... can we just talk about this?" Wade begged, looking desperately at Arthur Sterling. "Arthur... Mr. Sterling... this is just a family misunderstanding. My wife is suffering from severe postpartum depression. She’s not in her right mind. Please, tell the officers to stand down!"
Arthur Sterling slowly took off his reading glasses. He looked at Wade with an expression of such cold, absolute contempt that Wade physically flinched.
"Postpartum depression?" Arthur’s voice was dangerously low, vibrating with disgust. "You standing by while your mother tortures the woman who just bore your child is not a 'family misunderstanding,' Mitchell. It is monstrous."
"Arthur, please—"
"Do not speak to me," Arthur commanded. "You told me you bought this penthouse. You told the board you were a real estate investor. You used this woman’s home and her wealth to construct a pathetic, fraudulent facade of success."
"And that's not all he used, Mr. Sterling," Maya added smoothly, pulling out a thick manila envelope and handing it directly to the CEO.
Wade’s face drained of every remaining drop of color. "No... please... don't..."
"What is this?" Arthur asked, opening the envelope.
"Forensic accounting records from Chen & Associates," Maya said. "And internal corporate travel vouchers from Sterling Logistics. Over the past fourteen months, Wade Mitchell has embezzled two hundred and forty thousand dollars from his marital accounts, and an additional eighty-five thousand dollars from Sterling Logistics’ corporate entertainment budget."
Arthur flipped through the pages, his jaw clenching so hard a muscle twitched in his cheek.
"He routed company funds through a shell entity named Apex Horizon Holdings," Maya continued relentlessly, "to pay for luxury hotels, designer jewelry, and private weekend getaways with an employee named Sarah Jenkins."
Eleanor Sterling let out a sharp gasp. "Sarah Jenkins? The regional director’s daughter?"
Arthur closed the folder with a deafening thud. He looked at Wade as if he were an insect crawling across a clean floor.
"Wade Mitchell," Arthur said, his voice echoing through the penthouse like a death sentence. "As of this exact second, you are terminated from Sterling Logistics for cause. Our legal counsel will be filing formal criminal charges for corporate embezzlement with the District Attorney by nine o'clock tomorrow morning."
Wade’s knees buckled. He grabbed the edge of the dining table to keep from collapsing to the floor.
May you like
"And as for your presence in this home," Maya said, turning to the building’s head of security, "the owner has revoked all guest privileges. Evict them."
***
