Chapter 11: The Debt Collector

The lobby of Sterling Global was a cathedral of glass and silent power. 

Julian stood by the reception desk, his breath hitching. His credit cards had been declined at the parking garage, and his phone was persistently vibrating with a final, desperate warning from the Thorne Group’s board of directors, the Vance and other associates.

Feeling helpless, he looked out of place in the pristine environment. His usually crystal clear eyes were now bloodshot, his shirt was wrinkled, and his movements were erratic. He looked like a man who had been running all his life.

When the elevator finally opened on the 80th floor, he didn't see Theo Sterling at first. All he saw was Elena.

She was standing by a floor-to-ceiling window with a tablet in her hand. She was dressed in a white silk suit that made her look sharp and untouchable. Theo was at his desk, his expression was unreadable as he watched the visibly miserable Julian as if he were a bug under a microscope. The office was quiet, save for the hum of the city far below.

"Elena," Julian rasped out, ignoring the security guard who moved to intercept him. He held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. "You have to stop this. The banks... they’ve frozen everything. Sarah’s father is threatening to sue me for breach of contract. You’re destroying a child’s future. Don't be so self-centered and egoistic. Think about the baby."

Elena didn't turn around immediately. She finished scrolling through a document on her tablet before looking at him.

 Her face was a mask of indifference. "You really are more stupid than I give you credit for." 

 "Did I hear you mention a child’s future, Julian? Or your access to the company jet? Let’s be honest about what you are actually mourning today. The loss of the Thorne-Vance merger or your entire life."

"I am dead serious!" Julian stepped forward, his voice cracking with a mix of anger and fear. "This isn't a game! Sarah is pregnant. Whatever happened between us, that baby is innocent. You can't let the Thorne Group go under because we are divorced. Just sign the release for the escrow funds. It’s a drop in the bucket for the Blackwood estate. It wouldn't even cost you anything."

"You must have done your own digging." Elena scoffed.

Theo slowly stood up. His height casting a long, intimidating shadow across the office floor. "Mr. Thorne, you seem to be under the impression that you are here to negotiate or dish out orders. You aren't. You are here because I allowed the elevator to bring you up."

"I am talking to my wife! Can you just shut up or give us some privacy?" Julian screamed, his face turning a dark shade of red.

"Your wife? Looks like you forgot you are talking to your primary creditor," Elena corrected, finally walking toward him. 

Her heels sounded like a steady, rhythmic countdown on the marble floor. She stopped a few feet away, her arms crossed. "Maybe you need me to be more explicit at this point: I didn't just freeze the accounts, Julian. I spent the last four hours buying. I bought your personal bridge loans from the bank. I bought the secondary mortgage on the Thorne estate. I even bought the outstanding debt on that diamond anklet you gave Sarah."

Julian blinked, his mouth falling open. He looked at her as if she were speaking a foreign language. "What? Why would you do that?"

"Because I am no longer just the woman you divorced," Elena whispered, her voice low and cold. "I am the person who owns your debt. And since you cannot pay the interest that was due at 9:00 AM this morning... I took it upon myself to authorize the repossession of the Thorne penthouse. You and Sarah have until midnight to pack your things and vacate the premises, I am taking over it ."

"You wouldn't throw us out. I know you too well," Julian whispered, horror finally dawning on his face. "She is pregnant, Elena! Don't you get it? Where is she supposed to go? Her father is threatening to rain hail and brimestones because she's pregnant and you’re making the while thing worse by putting an helpless pregnant woman on the street."

Elena looked him dead in the eye, her expression as flat as the glass behind her. "I hear the Vances have a guest room. Assuming, of course, they still want a son-in-law who brings nothing to the table but a pile of lawsuits and a negative bank balance."

She turned back to Theo, dismissively. "Get him out of here. The smell of his desperation is distracting."

Theo signaled to the security guards. As they gripped Julian’s arms to lead him out, Julian began to shout, but the heavy glass doors of the office muffled his voice until it was nothing.

Elena stood in the center of the room, her shoulders square. She felt no pity, only a dull, mechanical sense of completion. The first stage was done.

"He'll go straight to Sarah," Theo said, walking over to her. "And Sarah will go straight to her father. The Vances are about to realize that their gilded viper just brought a ghost into their house."

"Good," Elena said, looking down at her tablet. "Tell the movers to be at the penthouse at 12:01 AM. I want everything he ever bought with Blackwood money out on the sidewalk by dawn."