Chapter 19 - RECKONING AT RIKERS
By Friday night, the storm had cleared.
With Katherine under arrest and Aegis Capital’s debt claim legally voided, my mother’s original trust terms triggered automatically on my twenty-ninth birthday. I officially assumed fifty-one percent controlling interest in Vance & Co. Fine Jewelers.
Before taking my seat in the executive office, I had one final debt to settle.
I walked into the visitor's room at the Manhattan Detention Complex. Sitting behind the scratched plexiglass divider was Nathan.
He looked unrecognizable. His hair was greasy, his designer suit replaced by a grey orange jumpsuit, his eyes sunken and hollow. When he saw me step into the room, he grabbed the plastic telephone handset with both hands, tears welling in his eyes.
"Emma!" Nathan sobbed into the receiver as I picked up the phone on my side. "Emma, thank God! Please... you have to post my bail! The lawyers said I'm facing fifteen years for Celeste's death! It was an accident, I swear! I was panicked!"
I listened in complete silence, my expression calm and unbothered.
"Emma, please!" Nathan begged, pressing his forehead against the glass. "I know I hurt you. I know I was wrong! But we built this company together! I love you, Emma... please don't leave me in here!"
"You never loved me, Nathan," I said smoothly into the receiver, my voice steady and free of anger. "You loved the access my name gave you. You loved the illusion of power."
"I can change!" he pleaded. "We can fix this!"
"The SEC seized your personal accounts this morning," I revealed, watching his face pale. "The board voted unanimously to terminate your employment and strip you of all corporate titles. The company is filing a thirty-million-dollar civil suit against you for fraud and forgery."
Nathan stared at me, paralyzed by the absolute coldness in my eyes.
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"You stood over me on that marble floor and thought you had destroyed me," I whispered. "I came to return my ring that day, Nathan. But today, I came to take back my life."
I set the receiver back on the cradle, stood up, and walked out of the room without looking back.
