Chapter 12 - THE HOUSE OF CARDSBy 10:30 AM, Daniel was pounding on the glass doors of his own office building, screaming at the security guards who had locked him out.
"Open this door! I am Daniel Mercer! I built this company!" he shrieked, his face flushed with panic as morning commuters stopped to stare at the disgraced architect.
A sleek black town car pulled up to the curb, and Eleanor Vance stepped out, holding a thick leather portfolio bearing the seal of Vance & Sterling International Law.
"Save your breath, Mr. Mercer," Eleanor said coldly, stopping a few feet away. "You no longer have an office here."
"Eleanor! You work for me!" Daniel pleaded, rushing over to her with wild, bloodshot eyes. "Tell these idiots to let me inside! My wife... Mara... she doesn't know anything about business! She's just a broke dependent!"
"Mara Mercer is the founder, majority shareholder, and sole financial backer of every single asset you thought you built," Eleanor corrected him, opening the portfolio to reveal a stack of legally binding foreclosure documents. "Your condo, your office tower, your equipment leases, and your lines of credit—all liquidated, foreclosed, and reassigned as of eight o'clock this morning."
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Daniel stared at the papers, his knees turning to water. He stumbled backward against the glass wall. "No... no, this isn't possible. She drove a fifteen-year-old Honda! She clipped coupons!"
"That," Eleanor said, snapping the portfolio shut, "is what you call a very expensive miscalculation."
