Chapter 6 - THE RATTLED GROOM
💀 WATCH HIM CRUMBLE: The moment Julian Thorne realized his 'plus-size' ex-fiancée just bought his family's entire banking empire! 💀Julian Thorne sat in an interrogation room at the federal holding facility, his head in his hands. He was still wearing his wedding tuxedo shirt, though it was now stained with dried chocolate from the fountain and wrinkled beyond repair.
The door clicked open.
Julian looked up, expecting his high-priced corporate defense attorney. Instead, I walked in, followed by Noah.
"Eleanor!" Julian gasped, half-rising from his chair before the heavy chain attached to his handcuffs yanked him back down to the table. "Thank God. You have to listen to me. Celeste manipulated me! She had dirt on my family’s bank! She threatened to ruin Thorne Holdings if I didn't help her get into your father's safe!"
"Save your breath, Julian," I said, sitting down across from him.
Noah didn't sit. He stood behind me, his arms crossed over his chest, his gaze fixed on Julian with a look of pure disgust.
"Eleanor, please," Julian begged, his eyes filling with fake tears. "Look at me. We loved each other. We spent two years planning our future. I know I said those horrible things on the tape, but I was just trying to keep Celeste happy! I had to play along with her game so I could protect you!"
"Protect me?" I laughed, and the sound was entirely hollow. "You called me a fat, pathetic cow, Julian. You said I was so desperate for love I would sign my own death warrant."
"I was lying to her!" he insisted, his voice rising in panic. "You know how crazy she was! Eleanor, please, think about our wedding day... think about the vows we wrote..."
"Oh, I'm thinking about Thorne Holdings," I interrupted, pulling out a fresh set of corporate acquisition papers. "Your family's private bank. The bank your father built. The bank that you secretly leveraged as collateral to borrow thirty million dollars from an offshore lender to cover your sports betting debts."
Julian froze. The fake tears instantly stopped. "How... how do you know about that?"
"Because the offshore lender you borrowed the money from was a shell company owned by Sterling Industries," Noah answered, a cold smirk on his lips. "And as of nine o'clock this morning, Vance Global and Sterling Industries have officially completed our corporate merger. Which means we now own your debt, Julian."
I slid the papers across the table to him.
"Thorne Holdings has defaulted on its loans due to your arrest," I explained calmly. "By five o'clock today, my legal team will execute the foreclosure. Your father will be removed from the board of his own bank. Your family’s assets will be seized to pay off your debts. Your parents will be forced out of their Greenwich mansion by Friday."
"No..." Julian whispered, his voice trembling as he looked at the documents. "No, you can't do this to my family. My father had nothing to do with this! He’s an old man!"
"My father was an old man, too," I snapped, my voice striking like a whip. "And you watched his wife poison him while you robbed him blind. You targeted me because you thought I was weak. You thought a plus-size girl would be so grateful for a handsome man’s attention that she would never look at the numbers."
I leaned forward, my eyes locking onto his with terrifying intensity.
"You underestimated me, Julian. You thought my weight defined my worth, but it only defined how much room I take up while I’m destroying you. Your family is broke. Your name is garbage. And you are going to spend the next twenty years in a federal penitentiary."
Julian stared at me, his face twisting from panic to raw, ugly hatred. "You're a monster, Eleanor! You're a cold-hearted monster!"
"No," I said, standing up and smoothing down my jacket. "I am a Vance. And we always collect our debts."
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As Noah and I walked toward the door, Julian let out a desperate, guttural scream, slamming his handcuffed fists against the metal table until they bled.
We didn't look back.
