Chapter 10 - The Ultimate EmpireI stood up, buttoning my suit jacket once more, and walked slowly toward Elena until I was towering over her.
"Did you really think, Elena, that after surviving one assassination plot on my wedding night, I wouldn't run a full background security sweep on every single shell company tied to Adrian’s offshore accounts?" I asked softly, my voice like crushed ice. "It didn't take long to find a familiar routing number. The exact same routing number used by a ghost who supposedly died in Maine five years ago."
Agent Miller stepped forward, pulling a pair of gleaming steel handcuffs from his belt.
"Elena Vance, you are under arrest for fraud, identity falsification, corporate conspiracy, and orchestrating a multi-million-dollar interstate racketeering scheme," Agent Miller recited crisply, grabbing her wrists.
Elena thrashed violently, her manicured nails clawing at the air as the cuffs clicked shut around her wrists. She glared at me with pure, unadulterated hatred, her voice shrieking as they dragged her toward the private elevator.
"You can't do this! You'll ruin everything! Nathan! NATHAN!"
The elevator doors closed, cutting off her screams in an instant.
Silence descended upon the penthouse once more.
Rosa let out a long, shuddering breath, sliding into a nearby chair with her head in her hands.
"Is it... is it really over this time, Mr. Carter?" she whispered.
I walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window, looking out over the glittering expanse of the Seattle skyline. The morning light was finally breaking through the heavy clouds, illuminating the sprawling cityscape below—every hotel, every tower, every square mile of the empire I had built with my own hands.
May you like
I raised my glass of whiskey, took a slow sip, and smiled.
"Yes, Rosa," I murmured, watching the sun rise over my kingdom. "It's over. And the empire is entirely mine."
