Chapter 32 - The Phantom Falls
Elias Thorne did not raise his hands immediately. He glared at Olivia with a hatred so toxic it seemed to poison the air in the room.
"You," Thorne hissed, dropping the useless satellite phone onto the floor. "You drained my accounts. My entire network is collapsing because of a pathetic, gold-digging widow."
"I am not a widow," Olivia said, her voice echoing clearly and powerfully through the room. "I am a mother. And you made the fatal mistake of threatening my child."
"I will ruin you!" Thorne screamed, finally losing his cultured, aristocratic facade. "I have politicians on my payroll! I have judges! You can't touch me!"
"Your politicians don't care about you anymore, Elias," Miller stated coldly, stepping forward with a pair of heavy steel handcuffs. "Max didn't just drain your accounts. She forwarded your entire encrypted blackmail ledger to the Department of Justice, the FBI, and every major news outlet in the country. You are radioactive. Nobody is coming to save you."
The realization hit Thorne like a physical blow. The absolute power he had wielded from the shadows for decades evaporated in an instant. He was exposed to the light, and without his money, he was completely powerless.
"On your knees," the SWAT leader commanded.
Thorne slowly sank to his knees on the expensive Persian rug. Miller approached and aggressively wrenched his arms behind his back, securing the handcuffs with a sharp, satisfying click.
"Elias Thorne, you are under arrest for conspiracy to commit murder, international money laundering, and domestic terrorism," Miller read him his rights, his voice filled with victorious satisfaction.
Olivia stood over the kneeling billionaire. She looked down at the man who had ordered an explosive charge to be placed on her son’s door.
May you like
"You thought money made you a god," Olivia said softly, so only he could hear. "But you're just a coward hiding behind a checkbook. And now, you have nothing."
She turned her back on him and walked out of the penthouse, leaving the ruined king to his inevitable cage.
