Chapter 10 - The Freezing Order
I crossed the street,
pushing through the heavy revolving doors of Calvin’s office building,
my heels clicking with purpose against the polished marble floor of the lobby.
I had timed it perfectly.
The process servers had gone up the elevator exactly three minutes before me.
By the time I reached the thirty-second floor,
the chaos was already in full swing.
I stepped off the elevator,
the familiar scent of expensive cologne and freshly brewed espresso hitting my nose,
and I walked confidently toward Calvin’s corner office.
A small crowd of junior analysts and administrative assistants had gathered near the water cooler,
whispering frantically,
their eyes darting toward the glass walls of my husband's workspace.
Inside the office,
Calvin was standing behind his desk,
wearing an oversized company fleece jacket tied around his waist to hide his torn trousers.
His face was pale,
slick with terrified sweat,
as the two process servers handed him a thick stack of court documents.
Stephanie was there too,
sitting in one of the leather visitor chairs,
looking completely disheveled,
having clearly rushed over after the disaster with Arthur Vance the day before.
I opened the glass door without knocking,
stepping into the room,
letting the door click shut behind me,
sealing the four of us inside.
Calvin looked up,
his eyes wide with a mixture of terror and overwhelming guilt.
"Brooke,"
he choked out,
his voice cracking slightly.
"What are you doing here?"
"I came to watch,"
I answered simply,
crossing my arms over my chest,
standing tall and unyielding.
One of the process servers,
a tall man with a completely blank expression,
spoke up.
"Calvin Davis,
you have been served with an emergency ex parte injunction,
freezing all personal and corporate assets,
including the accounts associated with CS Holdings LLC."
Stephanie gasped,
jumping out of her chair,
her manicured hands clutching the edge of the desk.
"You can't do that!"
she shrieked,
her voice shrill and desperate,
abandoning all pretense of her cool,
sophisticated persona.
"We have a commercial closing scheduled for three o'clock today!
If we don't wire the funds by three,
we lose the deposit and the property!"
I looked at Stephanie,
meeting her panicked gaze with absolute,
freezing indifference.
"You already lost the property, Stephanie,"
I told her,
my voice smooth and terrifyingly calm.
"The bank accounts were frozen at nine o'clock this morning by a family court judge.
Your LLC cannot transfer a single dime,
it cannot receive outside funding,
and it cannot dissolve until the divorce proceedings are finalized."
Calvin collapsed into his desk chair,
burying his face in his hands,
the reality of his total financial ruin crashing over him like a tidal wave.
"You took everything,"
Calvin whispered,
peeking through his fingers,
his eyes red and watery.
"I took back what was mine,"
I corrected him sharply,
stepping closer to the desk,
looking down at the broken man who used to be my husband.
"You thought I was stupid, Calvin.
You thought I would just cry in the dark while you financed your new life with my grandfather’s money.
But you forgot one very important thing."
Calvin looked up at me,
his breath hitching in his throat.
"What?"
he asked weakly.
"I am the one who built the spreadsheets for this family,"
I reminded him,
a dark,
triumphant smile touching the corners of my mouth.
"I know how the numbers work.
And I know how to make them disappear."
I turned my attention back to Stephanie,
who was now weeping openly,
her makeup running down her face in ugly black streaks.
"David says hello, by the way,"
I added casually,
watching the last remaining drop of color completely drain from her cheeks.
"He was very helpful in explaining your history of corporate embezzlement to our legal team."
Stephanie let out a choked sob,
stumbling backward until she hit the glass wall of the office,
realizing that she was not just facing a ruined business,
but potentially criminal charges.
I didn't need to say anything else.
The destruction was absolute,
comprehensive,
and perfectly executed.
I turned my back on both of them,
opening the glass door,
and walking out into the hallway without looking back.
The process servers followed closely behind me,
leaving Calvin and Stephanie trapped in the ruins of the empire they had tried to build on my broken heart.
I pressed the button for the elevator,
May you like
feeling lighter than I had in years,
ready to step out of the building and into a brand new,
