Chapter 3 - The Queen’s GambitWhile Marcus Vance sweat in his charcoal suit downtown, Margaret Holloway was sitting in her sunlit conservatory in Lake Forest, sipping Earl Grey tea from bone china and discussing charity gala seating charts with her socialite friends.
She believed she was untouchable. She believed that wealth, high society, and a few well-placed donations to the local police benevolent fund made her family immune to the messy realities of the world.
She was about to get a very rude awakening.
At 2:00 PM, a black sedan pulled up to the wrought-iron gates of the Holloway estate. Two burly men in dark coats stepped out, but they weren't process servers or police officers. They were health inspectors from the Cook County Department of Public Health—men who owed me a massive debt after I bailed their supervisor out of a public scandal three years ago.
Margaret watched from her second-story window as the inspectors bypassed the front door, marched straight to the massive commercial-grade distribution warehouse behind the main house where Holloway Select Markets stored imported cheeses and specialty meats, and slapped neon-orange CONDEMNED stickers across the loading docks.
Her phone rang instantly. It was the warehouse manager, his voice panicked.
"Mrs. Holloway! You need to get out here! The health department just seized our entire refrigerated inventory! They’re claiming a severe rodent infestation and expired import licenses!"
Margaret’s teacup shattered against the marble floor, the brown liquid pooling across her Persian rug like dark blood.
"That’s impossible!" she shrieked into her smartphone. "Call our corporate legal team! Call Marcus Vance!"
"We tried!" the manager yelled over the roar of a truck engine in the background. "Mr. Vance’s office isn't answering our calls! In fact, the federal inspectors just arrived with a warrant to audit all financial logs for the past ten years!"
Margaret’s breath caught in her throat. For the first time in her life, the walls of her fortress felt like they were turning to dust.
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She slammed the phone down, grabbed her mink coat, and ran out to her Mercedes. She had to find Grant. She had to fix this.
She didn't know that Grant was currently dealing with a disaster of his own.
