Chapter 2 - The Midnight Domino

The clock struck midnight, and the silence of my apartment was shattered by the shrill ring of my phone.
I picked it up slowly, watching the caller ID flash Daniel. When I accepted, his voice wasn't just trembling—it was unraveling at the seams.
"Why did you do this to me?!" he screamed, his breath coming in ragged gasps over the line. In the background, I could hear the faint, frantic sound of glass shattering and a woman wailing.
"Do what, Daniel?" I asked, my voice as calm as glacial ice. "Enjoying a quiet evening at home, just like you asked?"
"The bank!" he choked out, his voice cracking with sheer panic. "The accounts are frozen! Every single corporate line of credit has been revoked! The federal investigators are—they're seizing the property right now! Dad's business... it's gone. Everything is gone!"
"Oh," I replied softly, leaning back into my plush cushions. "You mean the company funded by my collateral, backed by my signature, and audited by my forensic accountant?"
A dead, suffocating silence fell over the line, broken only by the muffled weeping of his mother in the background.
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"You... you knew?" Daniel whispered, the betrayal finally dawning on him—not of me, but of the fact that his web of lies had unraveled entirely.
"I told you to enjoy your complete Christmas, Daniel," I said, and ended the call.