Chapter 4 - The Fall of the Parasites
"Wait! No! You can't arrest him!" Vanessa shrieked, throwing her hands up as Officer Alvarez grabbed Daniel’s arms and slammed him against the marble kitchen island—the very island where Daniel had thrown scalding coffee in Claire’s face five hours earlier.
"Get your hands off me!" Daniel screamed, struggling wildly as the steel handcuffs clicked tightly around his wrists. "I am the Regional Director of Grupo Nébula! You can't do this to me! Call my lawyer!"
"Your lawyer has already been notified, Mr. Luján," Miriam Cole said smoothly, checking her watch. "In fact, your boss at Grupo Nébula, Mr. Arturo Beltrán, has also been notified. Since Horizon Trust owns sixty-two percent of Grupo Nébula’s operating capital, your employment was officially terminated fifteen minutes ago."
Daniel froze, his face pressed against the cold marble counter. "What... what did you say?"
"You're fired, Daniel," Miriam whispered, leaning down close to his ear. "And the four hundred thousand dollars you embezzled from Grupo Nébula’s regional marketing fund to buy your Porsche? Horizon Trust has already called in the loan. The police tow truck is currently outside hooking your car up to the bed."
Outside in the driveway, the loud, grinding sound of a heavy diesel tow truck echoed through the open windows, followed by the metallic clanking of chains securing Daniel’s pride and joy onto the flatbed.
"My car..." Daniel wept, tears of pure humiliation finally bursting from his eyes. "My car!"
"What about me?!" Vanessa wailed, clutching Miriam’s coat sleeves like a desperate child. "I have a lease signing tomorrow in SoHo! I put down a ten-thousand-dollar deposit!"
Miriam pulled her coat sleeve out of Vanessa’s grip with absolute disgust. "Your ten-thousand-dollar deposit was paid using a fraudulent cashier's check drawn on Claire’s private trust account, Miss Lemaire. The SoHo landlord was notified at noon. The lease is canceled, and the District Attorney’s office has named you as a co-conspirator in the grand larceny indictment."
Vanessa dropped to her knees on the kitchen floor, right into the sticky puddle of dried coffee, her expensive silk blouse soaking in the stain. She burst into violent, hysterical sobs, her makeup running down her face in black streaks.
"You're both parasites," Miriam said coldly, gesturing to the secondary officer. "Officer, clear these people out of my client's house. They have ten minutes to collect their personal clothing in plastic bags. Everything else in this home remains locked until the court asset division is complete."
Daniel was hauled to his feet by Officer Alvarez. His suit was rumpled, his hair disheveled, and his wrist joints throbbed under the pressure of the steel cuffs. He looked around the pristine kitchen—the high-end appliances, the sunlit windows, the luxury life he had stolen and taken for granted—and realized with absolute, crushing horror that he had destroyed himself.
He had thrown a cup of coffee to force his wife into submission.
And in doing so, he had shattered his own universe beyond repair.
As the officers dragged Daniel down the front steps toward the waiting police cruiser parked in the driveway, neighbors stood on their front lawns, taking photos and recording videos on their smartphones.
Sitting in the back of a black tinted SUV parked across the street was Claire.
She rolled down her window by an inch. Her left cheek was still bandaged, but her eyes were calm, clear, and utterly fearless.
Daniel caught her eye from the police cruiser. He dropped to his knees on the asphalt, crying out desperately through his tears: "Claire! Claire, please! Forgive me! I love you! Please don't do this to me! I was stupid! I was wrong! Claire!"
Claire looked at him for one long, silent second. She didn't scream. She didn't gloat. She simply raised her hand, rolled up the tinted window, and instructed her driver:
May you like
"Take me to the airport, please."
The SUV pulled away into the afternoon sun, leaving Daniel screaming on the pavement in chains.
