Chapter 7
Jax slumped against the wooden doorframe, his shoulders shaking slightly under the heavy wool coat. The bravado of the corporate climber had completely evaporated, leaving behind a terrified man who realized he had hitched his wagon to a collapsing star.
"Go to you?" Jax let out a bitter, self-deprecating laugh. "Ethan told me you were already planning to restructure the firm without me after the wedding. He convinced me you were freezing me out. I was stupid, Mary. I was desperate."
Mary lowered her arm, stepping back slightly to allow him entry into the entryway, though she left the front door wide open to the cold ocean air. "Step inside, Jax. But keep your voice down and keep your distance."
Jax shuffled into the hallway, shivering as he stepped out of the wind. He wiped his nose with the back of his hand, looking around the minimalist beach house with a mixture of awe and intimidation. "You're going to destroy him, aren't you? Even after everything... you're not going to let him walk away with a single cent."
"Destroy him?" Mary walked back to the dining table, gesturing for Jax to take a seat on the wooden bench opposite her laptop. "Destruction is messy, Jax. I prefer systematic liquidation. By the time the board convenes tomorrow morning, Ethan won't just be stripped of his executive authority; he'll be facing federal wire fraud charges."
Jax sat down heavily, resting his elbows on the table and burying his face in his hands. "He has backup plans, Mary. You don't know the people he's been dealing with overseas. Real estate syndicates, private equity groups with very loose ethics. If we push him into a corner, he won't go down quietly. He'll take the whole firm down with him."
Mary opened her laptop once more, the screen illuminating her face in a harsh blue glow. She tapped a single key, bringing up a secure encrypted messaging window that connected directly to Arthur Vance’s private terminal.
"Let him try," Mary said, her voice carrying a chilling, absolute certainty. "Arthur has already agreed to back the emergency shareholder motion. And as for his offshore syndicates..." She turned the laptop screen toward Jax, revealing a detailed schematic of international bank accounts frozen by Interpol earlier that morning. "...they rely on liquidity that no longer exists."
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Jax stared at the screen, his mouth slightly open. "You... you moved faster than he did."
"I always do," Mary replied, closing the laptop with a definitive snap. "Now, tell me everything you know about Chloe's role in the embezzlement. Every shell company, every false invoice, every signature. If you want a fraction of a chance at a reduced sentence when the federal indictments drop, you're going to sign an affidavit right now."
