PART 2: THE PRICE OF CLOUT - And Then What
The heavy oak doors of the Grand Regent closed behind Ethan,
leaving Chloe standing alone in the center of the room.
The silence of the elite crowd was deafening.
The very people who had been smiling a minute ago were now whispering,
their eyes drilling holes into her white satin gown.
“Ethan!
Wait!”
Chloe screamed,
dropping her phone on the marble floor.
She ran after him,
her high heels clicking frantically,
but her father,
Arthur Mercer,
grabbed her arm by the entrance.
“Stop it,
Chloe!
You’ve done enough damage,”
Arthur hissed,
his face an ashen gray.
His hands were shaking.
“Do you have any idea what you just did?”
“It was just a prank,
Dad!
He’s overreacting!
He’ll come back,
he loves me!”
Chloe cried,
trying to shake off his grip.
“He won’t come back,”
Arthur said,
his voice dropping into a desperate whisper.
“That wasn’t just a proposal,
you foolish girl.
Tonight was supposed to be the signing of the Mercer-Vance merger.
Our logistics company is forty million dollars in debt.
The Vance Group was going to liquidate that debt tomorrow morning.
Now?
We are exposed.”
Chloe froze,
her social-media brain finally registering the financial reality.
“No…
Ethan wouldn’t do that to our family.”
Outside,
the rain was pouring over Manhattan.
Ethan sat in the back of his black Cadillac Escalade,
his face clean now,
his expression totally blank.
He looked out the window as the city lights blurred.
He picked up his secure phone and dialed a one-digit speed dial.
“Raymond,”
Ethan said,
his voice devoid of any human warmth.
“Yes,
Mr. Vance,”
his chief legal counsel replied instantly.
“The Mercer merger is dead.
Cancel the debt relief fund.
Initiate a short position on Mercer Logistics at the opening bell tomorrow morning.”
“Are we exercising the termination clauses on their shipping contracts as well,
sir?”
Raymond asked,
his tone professional,
unbothered by the sudden shift.
“All of them,”
Ethan commanded.
“Pull our containers from their yards.
Terminate the credit lines.
I want the Mercer name cleared out of our portfolio by noon.”
“Understood,
Mr. Vance.
It will be executed.”
Ethan ended the call.
He looked down at the red velvet box in his hand.
He roll down the window slightly
and tossed the red box into a passing trash bin on the street corner.
He didn’t look back to see where it landed.
May you like
An Ethan Vance didn’t waste tears on a liability.
He dismantled them.
