Chapter 4 - The Master Lease
"Audrey...?" Colin stammered, taking an involuntary step backward, his boots sliding against the polished marble floor. "What... what kind of sick joke is this?! What are you doing here?!"
Sloane’s voice cracked into a sharp, shrill pitch. "How did you get up here?! Did you follow us from Connecticut?! Security! Get this woman out of here! She’s his unstable ex-wife!"
"Quiet, Ms. Keating," Harrison Vance commanded, his voice dropping into a razor-sharp tone that silenced the room instantly. "You are speaking to Audrey Prescott, the sole owner and Chairman of Prescott Global Holdings, the parent entity that owns The Meridian Tower, its land, and every commercial asset within this corporation."
Arthur Sterling and Marcus Vance from Vanguard Capital exchanged wide-eyed, stunned looks, slowly stepping back from Colin and Sloane.
"Owner...?" Colin whispered, his chest heaving as he stared at me in absolute disbelief. "No... no! That's impossible! You don't have anything! Your parents died broke! You were doing freelance editing for five hundred dollars a week!"
I walked slowly down the length of the mahogany boardroom table, my heels clicking with slow, rhythmic precision against the floor. I stopped directly across from Colin, resting my hands on the high back of an executive chair.
"My Great-Aunt Florence Prescott passed away last month, Colin," I said softly, looking him dead in the eye. "She left me her entire estate. Twenty-six million dollars in liquid capital, twelve commercial developments, and this building. The paperwork was finalized two hours before you put my luggage on the front porch."
Colin stared at me, his mouth opening and closing like a fish stranded on a dry dock.
"You... you inherited twenty-six million dollars... and a skyscraper?" he choked out, his eyes darting frantically around the luxurious penthouse room, suddenly realizing the unfathomable scale of the mountain he was standing beneath.
"Ms. Prescott," Eleanor Vance stepped forward, laying a thick stack of legal documents onto the table in front of Colin. "Let us address the matter of your lease application for Suite 4500."
Colin swallowed hard, wiping a drop of cold sweat from his forehead. "Look... Audrey... let's talk about this privately. We're still married! What's mine is yours, and what's yours is—"
"We are not talking privately, Colin," I interrupted, leaning forward over the table. "Eleanor, read the forensic audit report."
Eleanor opened the first folder. "Yesterday afternoon, Mr. Dorsey submitted a six-hundred-thousand-dollar deposit check to secure the lease on the 45th floor. Our forensic accounting team audited the originating funds this morning."
She looked directly at Arthur Sterling from Vanguard Capital.
"Mr. Dorsey secured those funds by forging Audrey Prescott’s signature on an emergency home equity line of credit against her primary residential property in Connecticut—a property where she and her two young children reside," Eleanor revealed clearly. "This constitutes felony bank fraud, document forgery, and grand larceny under both Connecticut and New York state law."
Arthur Sterling’s face turned thunderous. He turned sharply to face Colin.
"You forged a mortgage document to fake your firm's liquid capital deposit?!" Sterling demanded, his voice trembling with corporate outrage.
"No! Arthur, wait! It was an administrative misunderstanding!" Colin panicked, his hands shaking violently as he turned to me, his voice pitching up into a desperate, pathetic whine. "Audrey, please! Tell them it was a joint account decision! We were married! I did it for our business! For the kids!"
"You didn't do it for the kids, Colin," I said, my eyes cold as ice. "You did it to impress Sloane. You did it to buy six-thousand-dollar suits. And you did it while telling our nine-year-old daughter that twenty-six dollars for a cake or a school play was an unacceptable waste of your money."
Sloane stepped back, her face entirely devoid of color, clutching her designer purse like a shield. "Colin... fix this! Tell her to sign the lease! If we don't get the 45th floor, Vanguard won't sign the contract!"
"Vanguard Capital is not signing anything with Dorsey Consulting," Marcus Vance declared firmly, pulling a leather pen from his coat and crossing his name off the contract. "Vanguard does not conduct business with fraudulent felons. The contract is officially canceled."
"No!" Colin shrieked, watching fifty million dollars in prospective business evaporate into thin air in less than five seconds. "Arthur, please! Don't do this!"
"And as for your lease application at The Meridian Tower, Mr. Dorsey," I said, taking the Montblanc pen Colin had placed on the table earlier and tapping it against the paper. "As Chairman of Prescott Global, your application is officially DENIED."
I pressed a button on the intercom console at the center of the table.
"Security," I instructed calmly. "Please escort Mr. Dorsey and Ms. Keating out of the building immediately. Revoke their visitor passes, and notify the NYPD financial crimes unit that Detective Sarah Miller has been provided with the certified forgery evidence."
Two heavy-set, uniformed security guards stepped into the boardroom, grabbing Colin and Sloane by their arms.
"Audrey! Please!" Colin screamed as he was dragged backward across the polished marble floor, tears of pure terror spilling down his cheeks. "I made a mistake! I love you! We can fix our family! Audrey!"
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Sloane was sobbing hysterically as her heels dragged along the floor. "Get your hands off me! Colin, do something! You promised me a life in Manhattan!"
I stood at the end of the mahogany table, watching quietly as the elevator doors slid shut, cutting off their desperate screams forever.
