Chapter 7 - The Downfall of Vanessa Quinn

Within twenty-four hours of the board meeting, the corporate structure Dominic had spent a decade building began to implode from the inside out. Without voting rights and with his personal accounts frozen under suspicion of corporate fraud, the banks instantly pulled his lines of credit.

By Tuesday afternoon, Vanessa Quinn found herself caught in the crossfire.

I was standing in my temporary suite reviewing property portfolios when my phone rang. It was an unknown number, but I recognized the frantic, breathless sobbing on the other end immediately.

"Evelyn? Evelyn, please, you have to listen to me!" Vanessa’s voice cracked desperately.

I held the phone a fraction of an inch away from my ear, maintaining my composure. "Miss Quinn. To what do I owe the absolute displeasure of this call?"

"They locked me out of my office," Vanessa cried, her professional composure entirely shattered. "HR just handed me a termination notice citing conflict of interest and misuse of corporate funds. And... and Dominic won't even take my calls! He's barricaded himself in his office downstairs, and security won't let me back in the building!"

A cold, humorless smile touched my lips. "Did you really think a man who would throw away an eight-year marriage over a whim would loyalty-test for a mistress when his empire collapsed, Vanessa?"

"You planned this," she hissed, her tone suddenly shifting from desperate pleading to bitter venom. "You lured him into a trap! You manipulated everything from the shadows!"

"No, Vanessa," I corrected her softly. "I didn't manipulate anything. I simply gave Dominic enough rope to hang himself, and he graciously handed you the other end of the noose. Enjoy your unemployment. I hear the job market in retail is quite robust this time of year."

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I hung up the phone before she could reply, silencing the frantic buzzing, and blocked the number permanently.

The illusion was fully shattered. The penthouse, the cars, the status, the corporate power—it had all evaporated into thin air the moment Dominic tried to discard the woman who held the foundations together.