Chapter 7 - The Audit BeginsGabriel tapped his tablet screen twice. Across the room, the large projector screen—which had been displaying a slideshow of the Cole Construction Empire’s achievements all evening—suddenly flickered, turned blue, and began displaying line after line of financial code, offshore bank routing numbers, and corporate ledgers.
The guests gasped. Several city officials and real estate investors leaned forward, their eyes widening in horror as they recognized their own company names appearing beside illegal kickback figures.
"What is that?!" Richard yelled, stumbling back against the head table. "Turn that off!"
"That," Gabriel said calmly, stepping into the center of the room, "is the complete forensic breakdown of Cole Enterprises over the past nine years. It details forty-two counts of federal tax evasion, structural material fraud on the city's new harbor bridge, and eleven million dollars in unreported bribes paid to the zoning board."
Gabriel looked directly at Richard.
"At 11:00 PM, this file will be automatically transmitted to the Department of Justice, the Internal Revenue Service, and the State Attorney General's office. By midnight, every asset tied to your name will be frozen. By morning, your stock will be worthless."
Vanessa Hart backed away slowly toward the glass terrace doors, her face pale beneath her ruined silver dress, her hand gripping her leather purse.
Nico didn't even look at her as he spoke. "I wouldn't open those doors, Miss Hart. Your father’s company, Hart Development, holds twenty percent of the debt on this estate. My firm just bought that debt five minutes ago. Your family is officially bankrupt."
Vanessa froze, her hand hovering over the door handle. She looked at Adrian, expecting him to fight back, expecting the Cole name to protect her. But Adrian was still pinned against the pillar by Matteo, trembling violently, a trickle of sweat running down his bloodless cheek.
"Elena..." Adrian gasped out, his eyes pleading with me through Matteo’s iron grip. "Elena... please... tell them to stop. We're married... we can talk about this..."
I stood beside Dominic, resting my hand against his arm. I looked at the man I had spent three years trying to love—a man who thought strength was proven by whipping a bound woman in front of a cheering crowd.
"I tried to talk to you for three years, Adrian," I said softly, my voice carrying clearly to every corner of the silent ballroom. "You never listened. You only heard what you wanted to hear."
May you like
I turned my back on him.
"Dominic," I whispered, "take me home."
