Chapter 4 - THE BOARDROOM UNMASKING
"THE BILLION-DOLLAR DEAL VANISHED IN SECONDS, AND HE REALIZED HE WAS BEGGING THE WOMAN HE RUINED"
"This is a lie! It’s a setup!" Chase roared, slamming his hands onto the boardroom table.
Two hours had passed since the disastrous press conference. The ballroom had been cleared, but Chase, Brielle, and their core investors were now locked in Vanguard’s main executive boardroom.
Adeline sat at the head of the table. She hadn't even taken off her blazer. She looked entirely at home in the leather executive chair—a chair Chase had bought with the commission from her first design.
"It’s not a lie, Chase," Adeline said, tossing a stack of certified court orders onto the table. "As of 9:00 AM today, the city of Chicago has suspended all construction permits for Vanguard Development. You are under investigation for intellectual property theft and corporate fraud."
"You can't do this!" Brielle screamed, her fake luxury facade completely shattering. She pointed a manicured finger at Adeline. "Chase built this company! You were just a housewife! You did nothing but clean and cook!"
"I cleaned and cooked because I loved him," Adeline said, her voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. "But while I was cleaning, I was also calculating the structural load-bearing capacity of your downtown project. I was the one who corrected your engineers' mistakes every single night while you were out drinking with your 'investors.' If I don't sign off on those designs, your buildings are legally classified as safety hazards."
Chase felt the room spinning. He looked at his lead investor, Henderson. "Arthur... tell me this isn't happening. We have a contract."
Mr. Henderson stood up, his face grim. "Our contract was contingent on the validity of the architectural patents, Chase. If the Prescott Group is suing you for copyright infringement, our funding is frozen. In fact, we will be suing you for recovery of our initial fifty-million-dollar deposit."
"Fifty million?" Chase’s voice cracked. "I... I already spent that to acquire the lakeside land!"
"Then you are bankrupt," Nolan said coldly from the corner of the room. "And you owe the city another ten million in non-performance penalties."
Brielle looked at Chase, her eyes wide with sudden horror. "Chase... what does he mean? You told me you had hundreds of millions in reserve!"
"I spent it on the land!" Chase shouted at her, his composure completely gone. "I spent it because your 'billionaire' father promised to match the investment! Where is his money, Brielle? He was supposed to wire the transition funds yesterday!"
Brielle stumbled backward, her silence answering his question.
Chase fell back into his chair, his hands shaking. He looked at Adeline. Really looked at her. For three years, he had looked down on her. He had patronized her, told her she didn't understand business, and made her feel like she was lucky to share his bed.
Now, she sat there like an empress, and he was nothing but a peasant begging for crumbs at her feet.
"Adeline..." Chase whispered, his voice trembling. "Please. We were married. We loved each other. I made a mistake. I was confused... Brielle tricked me. She told me she was pregnant—"
"I am pregnant!" Brielle shrieked.
Nolan tossed a medical report onto the table. "Actually, Brielle, you visited an IVF clinic three weeks ago to falsify a pregnancy test. You aren't pregnant. You never were. You just needed a rich husband to pay off your father’s creditors before they broke his legs."
Chase stared at the medical report. The world seemed to stop spinning, leaving him in a vacuum of cold, hard reality. He had left his wife—the true heiress of the Prescott empire, the woman who had actually built his wealth—for a bankrupt scammer who had lied about carrying his child.
"Adeline," Chase begged, sliding out of his chair onto his knees. "Please. Just give me one chance. We can start over. I’ll do whatever you want."
May you like
Adeline looked down at him. There was no anger in her eyes. Only a deep, profound pity.
"The day you left me bleeding on the floor, Chase, you didn't just lose a wife," she said quietly. "You lost your future."
