Chapter 6 - Public Ruin
Back at Saint Jude’s Cathedral, the grand reception hall was disintegrating into a warzone.
Grant stood in the center of the marble foyer, shouting at his publicist while Camille sobbed dramatically into a lace handkerchief. Three hundred high-society guests were whispering, checking their phones, and quietly sneaking out the side exits to avoid being associated with the catastrophe.
"Find out where she went!" Grant roared, ripping off his silk boutonniere and stomping it onto the floor. "Call the police! Report Thorne for abduction!"
"Sir, we can't do that," his chief counsel whispered frantically, holding a vibrating tablet. "Thorne didn't abduct her. There are twenty videos already trending on TikTok and Twitter. She walked out of her own free will. And... you have bigger problems."
"What could possibly be bigger than this?" Grant screamed, his face veins bulging.
"The board," the lawyer said, his voice trembling. "Thorne Enterprises just initiated a hostile takeover of Sterling Logistics. They just dumped forty percent of our short-term municipal bonds onto the open market. Our stock is in freefall. Trading has been halted."
Camille stopped crying and lowered her handkerchief. "Grant? What does that mean? What about our trip to Monaco next week?"
"Shut up, Camille!" Grant snapped, turning on her with wild eyes. "Get away from me!"
Suddenly, the front doors were pushed open again. But it wasn't Nadine returning to apologize.
Four agents in dark windbreakers bearing yellow federal seals walked into the cathedral, accompanied by two uniformed state troopers. The lead agent pulled an official document from his breast pocket.
"Grant Sterling?"
Grant blanched. "Yes? What is this nonsense?"
"I am Special Agent Miller, Federal Securities and Exchange Commission. We have an active warrant for the seizure of all electronic devices and financial ledgers belonging to Sterling Capital, pursuant to an investigation into illegal offshore shorting and bank fraud."
Camille gasped and stepped backward, instantly distancing herself from Grant. "I don't know anything about this! I was just a guest!"
"Camille, wait—" Grant reached for her, but she darted away toward the rear exit without a single backwards glance.
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The guests parted like the Red Sea as the agents approached the altar. Within ten minutes of Nadine walking out, the invincible Grant Sterling was standing in the empty chapel, stripped of his bride, his mistress, his company, and his freedom.
***
