Chapter 4 - The Predators Become the Prey
Fear is a funny thing.
It starts as a small cold spot in the stomach and spreads until it paralyzes the brain.
On the Sterling private jet,
fear was the only thing on the menu.
The executives were no longer looking at Carter as a leader.
They were looking at him as a corpse.
“You lied to us!”
one of the directors shouted,
standing up and pointing a finger at Carter.
“You said the Vance Trust was a permanent backing!
You said the patents were bulletproof!”
Carter was sweating,
his expensive silk shirt clinging to his back.
“I… I didn’t know,”
he stammered,
his voice weak.
“Samantha must have manipulated the contracts.
She’s a snake!”
“She’s the one who paid your bills for four years!”
the CFO yelled back.
“She’s the one who wrote the code that made us billions!
You’re just the face,
Carter!
And right now,
that face is worth zero!”
Khloe,
realizing the ship was sinking fast,
tried to distance herself.
She stood up and moved to a seat further down the cabin,
away from Carter.
“I had nothing to do with the business side,”
she said to no one in particular,
her voice trembling.
“I was just hired to be a secretary.
I didn’t know he was stealing from his wife.”
Carter’s mother turned on her like a rabid dog.
“You little harlot!”
she screamed.
“You were the one whispering in his ear!
You were the one who told him to kick Samantha off the plane!”
“And you encouraged it!”
Khloe snapped back,
the mask of the "sweet girl" completely gone.
“You wanted her gone so you could spend more of her money without feeling guilty!”
As the two women began to scream at each other,
Carter sat in the middle of the chaos,
staring at his hands.
He realized he didn't even have enough personal cash to pay for the fuel for this plane.
His personal accounts were tied to the company,
and the company was tied to Samantha.
He was a billionaire on paper,
but in reality,
he didn't even own the shoes on his feet.
The intercom crackled to life.
The Captain’s voice sounded cold and detached.
“Ladies and gentlemen,
this is the Captain.
Due to… technical difficulties with the company’s credit profile,
we have been denied landing rights in the Maldives.
We are being diverted to a secondary strip in the Azores for refueling and processing.”
“Processing?”
Carter shouted,
stumbling toward the cockpit.
“What do you mean processing?”
The cockpit door remained locked.
“The plane is being reclaimed by the lessor,
Mr. Sterling,”
the Captain’s voice replied.
“And since the Sterling Group has been flagged for potential fraudulent activity regarding its IP,
authorities will be waiting to speak with you upon landing.”
Carter collapsed against the door.
Fraud.
If Samantha could prove he knowingly used her patents without permission,
he wouldn't just be poor.
He would be in prison.
He looked back at the cabin.
His mother was crying.
Khloe was frantically deleting messages on her phone.
His executives were calling their lawyers,
trying to figure out how to flip on him to save themselves.
He was alone.
Truly,
utterly alone.
He thought back to the look on Samantha’s face as she walked off the plane.
The calm smile.
The cold eyes.
He had thought she was being weak.
He realized now that she was being a predator.
She had waited until he was at his highest point,
until he had publically humiliated her,
to pull the rug out.
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She didn't just want to leave him.
She wanted to destroy the very memory of him.
