Chapter 6 - Serena's Exit
The rain began to fall over Chicago by late afternoon, slicking the streets around Michigan Avenue.
In the high-end office suite of Vale Public Relations, Serena Vale was pacing nervously behind her glass desk. Her phone had been ringing non-stop for two hours.
"What do you mean the retainer check bounced?!" Serena yelled into her phone, her delicate voice entirely gone. "It was a corporate draft from Ellison Northbridge!"
"Miss Vale," her accountant's voice sounded grim on the speakerphone. "Ellison Northbridge's legal division issued a formal stop-payment order on all accounts associated with your firm. They’ve also filed a freeze order on your business bank account, pending a forensic investigation into two point four million dollars in unauthorized transfers."
"They can't freeze my business account!" Serena screamed. "I have payroll on Friday!"
"They can and they did," the accountant replied. "And Miss Vale... three of your major corporate clients just called to terminate their representation contracts with your firm, citing reputational exposure related to the Ellison Northbridge investigation."
Serena slammed her phone down onto the desk, her breathing fast and ragged.
Before she could process the catastrophe, her office door burst open.
Grant walked in. He was dripping wet from the rain, his jacket soaked through, smelling faintly of cheap whiskey.
"Serena," Grant gasped, running a hand through his wet hair. "Thank God you're still here. My cards aren't working... my phone service was cut off an hour ago... I need to stay at your apartment until my lawyers get this sorted out."
Serena stared at him. The man who thirty-six hours ago had been her golden ticket into Chicago's ultra-wealthy inner circle now looked like a displaced vagrant.
"Get out," Serena said flatly.
Grant blinked, shocked. "What?"
"I said get out of my office, Grant," Serena repeated, her tone dropping into a icy, cruel register.
"Serena... what are you talking about?" Grant stammered, taking a step toward her. "It's me! We're in this together! I lost my position because of... because Mara set us up!"
"No, Grant," Serena sneered, coming out from behind her desk and pointing a manicured finger at his chest. "You lost your position because you were stupid enough to pretend you were a billionaire while your wife was pulling the strings! You lied to me!"
"I didn't lie!" Grant pleaded, his eyes wide with betrayal. "I didn't know!"
"Which makes you an even bigger idiot!" Serena snapped. "Do you have any idea what you've done to my business? Mara Ellison froze my accounts! She's suing my firm! My reputation in this city is completely ruined because I let you take me to your mother's dinner!"
"Serena, please," Grant whimpered, reaching out to touch her arm. "I love you. We can start over—"
"Don't touch me!" Serena barked, pulling back as if he were covered in filth. "You have no job, no money, no stock, and no apartment! You are completely worthless to me!"
She walked over to her office door, opening it wide to the hallway where four of her junior staffers were watching in hushed shock.
"Security!" Serena called out down the hall. "Escort this man off the property immediately. If he comes back, call the police."
Grant stood in the middle of her office, looking at the woman he had traded his wife, his unborn child, and his dignity for.
May you like
Serena didn't even look at him. She turned her back, sat at her desk, and picked up her lip gloss.
Grant was led out into the rain, the heavy glass doors clicking shut behind him, leaving him standing on the cold, wet pavement with nowhere left to run.
