Chapter 4 - The Financial Guillotine
Morning sunlight pierced through the hospital blinds.
Sophie was sitting up, eating a cup of strawberry gelatin.
She smiled when I kissed her uninjured cheek.
"Is Daddy mad at me?" she asked softly.
My heart shattered all over again.
"No, baby," I stroked her hair.
"Daddy is just on a very long vacation."
My phone buzzed relentlessly in my purse.
I walked to the window to answer the call from my lead attorney, Harrison.
"The wheels are in motion, Clara," Harrison said.
His voice was crisp and strictly professional.
"Grant posted bail an hour ago."
"I figured his mother would pawn a necklace to get him out," I replied.
"He tried to access the joint offshore accounts," Harrison continued.
"And?"
"They are frozen, just as you requested."
I watched the morning traffic crawling through the city below.
"What about his corporate credit cards?" I asked.
"Canceled."
"And the penthouse?"
"The locks were changed at 6:00 AM."
I smiled at my reflection in the window glass.
"Excellent."
Harrison cleared his throat.
"Clara, he is currently trying to storm the corporate headquarters."
"Let him in," I instructed.
Harrison sounded surprised.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
I wanted Grant to walk into his beautiful corner office.
I wanted him to see the empty desk.
"Have security escort him to the boardroom."
"I will be there in thirty minutes."
I hung up the phone and turned back to my daughter.
A sweet nurse had arrived to check her vitals.
"I need to run a very quick errand, sweetheart," I told Sophie.
"Will you be right back?" she asked.
"I promise."
I grabbed my coat and walked out of the hospital.
The drive to the Bennett Tower took exactly twelve minutes.
I bypassed the front desk and took the private executive elevator.
When the silver doors opened, the entire floor was silent.
The employees were staring nervously at the main boardroom.
I could hear Grant yelling from down the hall.
I pushed open the heavy glass double doors.
Grant was screaming at a terrified junior accountant.
He stopped mid-sentence when he saw me.
"Clara!" he yelled, marching toward me.
"Fix this right now!"
He looked like a madman in his wrinkled tuxedo from the night before.
"Why is my security badge deactivated?" he demanded.
May you like
I walked past him and took the leather chair at the head of the table.
"Because you don't work here anymore, Grant."
