Chapter 2 - The Serpent in the SuiteThe sun had barely risen over Chicago, casting a cold, gray light across the city skyline. Clara stirred in her sleep, letting out a soft moan of pain. I gently stroked her hair, kissing her forehead. Her skin was still too cold, her breathing too shallow.
My phone buzzed aggressively in my pocket. It was an incoming call from an unknown number.
I stepped out into the hospital hallway, sliding the answer button.
“Sebastian? Where the hell are you?” Eleanor’s voice shrieked through the speaker, devoid of an ounce of remorse or worry. “Do you have any idea how humiliating it was to have your security guards drag my friends out of my house yesterday? The police were called! My reputation is ruined!”
Your reputation?
A cold, humorless laugh escaped my lips.
“Your reputation, Eleanor, is the least of your concerns right now,” I replied, my voice dropping into a chilling, deadpan register. “Where are you?”
“Where am I? I’m at home, waiting for you to come back and apologize to me and your brother! Julian is furious. He missed an important golf meeting because of your little tantrum. You need to come home right now and fire those guards, or—"
“Or what?” I interrupted, cutting her off cleanly. “Or you’ll cut me out of your life? You’ll stop blessing me with your presence?”
“Sebastian, don’t take that tone with me! You owe me everything! If it weren’t for me raising you—"
“If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have spent the last twelve years believing you were a mother worthy of respect,” I snapped, the fury boiling over. “Listen to me very carefully, Eleanor. Pack your bags. Leave my house within the hour. If you or Julian are still on the property when I get back, I won't just call security. I’ll call the state prosecutor.”
A sharp gasp echoed on the other end. “You wouldn't! You are threatening your own mother over a penniless gold-digger? That woman has bewitched you!”
“She sold her grandmother's earrings to buy me my first inventory when we had nothing!” I roared, the hospital corridor walls vibrating with my voice. “She stood by me when we ate instant noodles for dinner every single night! What did you do, Eleanor? You sat back, waited for me to make it big, and then turned my home into a slaughterhouse for the woman I love!”
“She’s a nobody!” Eleanor screamed back, her mask of civility completely shattering. “She doesn't belong in our class! Julian agrees with me, and once you come to your senses, you’ll see we did you a favor!”
“Julian?” I smiled darkly. “Tell my dear brother to enjoy his last twenty-four hours of corporate luxury. Because by tomorrow morning, he won't even be able to afford a bus ticket.”
I hung up before she could reply, blocking her number instantly.
I turned around to head back into Clara’s room, only to find Marcus standing at the end of the hallway, holding a fresh tablet.
“Boss, you’re not going to believe what else I found in the financial archives,” Marcus said, jogging up to me.
“Spit it out.”
“I had our forensic accountants run a deep scan on the corporate accounts Julian manages as regional VP. Boss... Julian hasn't just been a bad brother. He’s been embezzling funds from Vance Logistics for the last eighteen months. Over four million dollars has been funneled through dummy shell companies directly into an offshore account registered under Eleanor’s maiden name.”
I stood frozen in the middle of the hallway.
Four million dollars. Embezzlement from the company I built with my bare hands, money that was supposed to go toward employee expansions and logistics upgrades.
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They weren't just trying to steal my life. They were robbing my company blind.
“Gather all the financial documents, the bank records, and the shell company registry,” I instructed, my eyes narrowing into a dangerous squint. “Prepare the legal injunctions. We aren't just going to kick them out of the house. We are going to dismantle everything they have, piece by piece, until they have nothing left.”
