Chapter 13 - The Queen’s GambitBack in New York, the news hit Teresa Hayes like a thermal bomb.
She had been settling into her dull, restrictive routine at the upscale New Jersey retirement community when her Swiss private banker tried calling her cell phone—only to find the line blocked by an international restraining order. Panicked, she had immediately tried to liquidate a secondary safety deposit box in Manhattan, only to be met by two federal marshals waiting quietly in the lobby.
By Friday evening, my phone buzzed with an unknown, restricted caller ID. I pressed accept and held the phone to my ear without speaking a word.
“Eleanor?”
Teresa’s voice didn’t sound haughty anymore. It was ragged, trembling, and laced with venomous panic.
“Teresa,” I replied smoothly, pouring myself a glass of sparkling water in my penthouse kitchen. “I hope the retirement community is treating you well. I hear the Wi-Fi reception in the lobby is exceptional for making international calls.”
“You... you vicious, cold-blooded little monster!” Teresa shrieked, her facade completely shattering. “You froze our accounts! You took everything! We worked for decades to build that portfolio! You have no right!”
“Everything in that account was traced directly back to the venture capital sale I executed three years before David and I even said our vows,” I answered, my tone razor-sharp. “Your son embezzled my capital, funneled it through a shell corporation, and you acted as the primary beneficiary. In the eyes of the federal court, that makes you an active co-conspirator in white-collar racketeering.”
“We can make a deal!” Teresa sobbed, her voice cracking into desperate pleading. “Please, Eleanor! Give us a fraction—just enough to live comfortably! We’re old people! We can’t survive in a federal holding investigation!”
“You should have thought about your survival when you spent years standing in my kitchen criticizing the way I folded towels while plotting how to steal my future,” I said quietly.
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I didn't wait for her response. I tapped the red end-call button, blocking her number permanently, and tossed the phone onto the marble island.
The game was over. The royal family had fallen.
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