Chapter 17: The Fall of a Titan

THE HEIRESS' COLD REVENGE

The walk from the boardroom to the elevator was less than a two minutes walk, but to Julian, it felt like a thousand years under a spotlight. 

Theo had two men from his security team follow exactly three paces behind him: not as a courtesy, but as vacuums.

When the elevator doors opened on the ground floor, the quiet on the executive levels was replaced by a truckload of noise. The lobby was swarming with reporters. News of the hostile takeover had traveled faster than the elevator.

"Julian!" 

"Talk to us." 

"Is it true the Blackwood Trust has seized your personal assets?" a reporter from a financial news outlet shouted, shoving a microphone in his face.

"Mr. Thorne, how do you respond to the allegations of shell company fraud?" another screamed.

"Have you actually been overthrown or are these just rumors?" 

"How did you marry the Blackwood's heiress and not make the best from it?" 

"Did you truly not know who your ex-wife was?" 

"Where is Sarah in all of this? Together with your unborn child?" 

Julian didn't answer, he was overwhelmed with shame. He kept his head down, pushing through the heavy glass doors onto the sidewalk. The cameras kept flashing in his face and the reporters scurried after him as well.

He looked around to see if there were any cabs but he found none.

Theo's men had gone back into the building, leaving him to face the reporters and deal with the worst himself. Fortunately for him, some of the security men who managed the exit door rushed to him, separating him from the reporters, giving him enough room to narrowly escape.

After running from the building as far as his legs could carry him for about ten minutes, he stopped. Looked around to be sure he wasn't followed, whilst panting heavily.

He looked around for a minute more before spotting a walkway. He went over to it and sat, the wind whipping his hair into a disheveled mess. He reached into his jacket for his phone, forgetting that it was now useless. 

His thumb kept hovering over the speed dial for his lawyer. He needed an injunction. He needed a counter-suit and just then, the screen glowed for a second before a message appeared in bold, black text: 

"NETWORK ACCESS DENIED. ACCOUNT TERMINATED BY ADMINISTRATOR." 

"Damn it!" He hissed, nearly throwing the device onto the pavement.

He fumbled for his wallet, pulling out a handful of credit cards. He needed a taxi, a hotel, anything to get away from the cameras. But as he looked at the slivers of plastic, the Black Card, the Gold Corporate, he knew they were useless. His only resort was the center, where he would be fed once daily and allowed to sleep on an old, hard bed.

Across the street, a black sedan with tinted windows sat idling. The back window rolled down just three inches. He couldn't see her face, but he knew the silhouette. Elena was there, watching. She wasn't gloating him again, shee was simply observing the final result of her audit.

The car pulled away smoothly, disappearing into the midday traffic. Julian was left standing in the center of the financial district, surrounded by towers that bore his family name, with nothing but a dead phone and a suit that suddenly felt too large for him.

He began to walk. For the first time in his life, Julian Thorne didn't have a destination in mind. 

"If only I could find Sarah," he hissed. "She is my ticket to getting out of this mess!" 

Deep down, he knew that there was nothing Sarah could do for him even if he meets with her. Her father had taken every preventive measure that there is.