Chapter 6 - The Boardroom Ambush
Down at the Bennett Construction Group headquarters, chaos reigned supreme.
Marcus slammed his briefcase onto the mahogany boardroom table, his face flushed with rage and humiliation. The senior executives had quietly cleared out of the room moments after Julian Vance served the suspension notices, leaving Marcus and Patricia alone in the cavernous space.
“This is a mistake! My wife is having a hysterical episode!” Marcus roared at Arthur Pendelton, who stood calmly by the double doors.
Just then, the heavy oak doors swung wide open.
Valerie walked into the boardroom. She was dressed in a sharp, tailored charcoal-grey pantsuit, her posture immaculate, every trace of the previous night’s vulnerability entirely erased. Behind her stood two Dallas Police detectives in plainclothes.
Patricia recoiled, clutching her designer handbag as if it could shield her. “You—you have no right to be here! This is Marcus’s company!”
Detective Sergeant Miller stepped forward, flashing a metallic badge. “Marcus Bennett and Patricia Bennett? I have active warrants for your arrest on charges of domestic assault, extortion, and conspiracy to commit poisoning.”
Marcus’s face drained of all color. He staggered back against the wall. “Arrest? Are you insane? My wife and I had a domestic disagreement! You can’t arrest a CEO in his own corporate headquarters!”
“You are no longer the CEO, Marcus,” Valerie said, her voice cutting through the room like shattered glass. She stopped three feet away from him, looking him dead in the eye. “You haven’t been the decision-maker here for three years. You were just a figurehead riding on my capital.”
“Valerie, please,” Marcus stammered, his bravado entirely evaporating as he reached out a trembling hand. “We’ve been married for five years. We can talk about this... we can fix our marriage—”
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“There is no marriage left to fix, Marcus,” Valerie replied coldly. “You raised your hand against me. You and your mother plotted to drug me. And you believed you could steal everything I built.”
Sergeant Miller stepped between them, clicking heavy steel handcuffs onto Marcus’s wrists. A second officer cuffed Patricia, whose protests dissolved into shrill, desperate shrieks as she was hauled out of the boardroom in disgrace.
