Chapter 5 - The Glass Castle Shatters
At 2:30 p.m., Ryan arrived at the glass-fronted skyscraper in the financial district that housed Vance Design Group. He was wearing the same crumpled suit he had been wearing when the deputies escorted him off my lawn four hours earlier. Beside him stood Maya, her eyes red and swollen from crying, holding a cup of cheap lukewarm coffee from a gas station down the street.
Ryan still believed he had a trump card. He believed that no matter what happened to his marriage or his home, the company was his sanctuary. The company was where he was king.
He pushed through the heavy glass revolving doors of the building, striding toward the security turnstiles with Maya trailing behind him. He reached into his pocket, pulled out his executive keycard, and swiped it across the digital scanner.
A harsh red light flashed. An alarm sounded a sharp double-beep.
ACCESS DENIED.
Ryan frowned, swiping the card again harder. ACCESS DENIED.
“Hey! What’s wrong with this reader?” Ryan shouted toward the security desk, where two large guards were standing with their arms crossed over their chests.
The chief security officer walked over calmly. “Mr. Vance, your access privileges have been permanently revoked.”
“Revoked? Are you out of your mind?” Ryan roared, slamming his palm against the turnstile. “I own the company on the 14th floor! I am the Chief Executive Officer!”
“Not anymore, sir,” a cool voice spoke from behind the security desk.
Marcus Vance, my attorney, stepped out of the private elevator, accompanied by two process servers in dark suits.
“Ryan Vance,” Marcus said, handing another crisp set of documents through the metal railing. “This is a formal notice of corporate termination passed by unanimous vote of the board of directors at 1:15 p.m. today. You have been removed as CEO of Vance Design Group for gross negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, and misappropriation of corporate funds.”
Ryan stared at the paper as if it were written in a foreign language. “The board? What board? I hold the majority of shares!”
“You held forty percent,” Marcus corrected him with a tight, cold smile. “Sixty percent was held by private investors and venture entities. As of 9:00 a.m. this morning, Sterling Holdings acquired all remaining shares, giving them complete voting control. Furthermore, Mr. Julian Thorne of Thorne & Vance has officially terminated all commercial contracts with you personally and reallocated the Riviera Resort contract directly to Sterling Holdings.”
Maya let out a choked gasp, dropping her coffee cup onto the polished marble floor. The dark brown liquid splashed across Ryan’s leather shoes.
“No... no, no, no!” Ryan screamed, trying to force his way past the turnstile. “Claire did this! This is a personal vendetta! She’s trying to ruin me!”
“Mrs. Vance didn’t ruin you, Ryan,” Marcus said, looking down at the struggling man with pure contempt. “You ruined yourself the moment you signed your personal guarantees to high-interest commercial lenders, and you sealed your fate when you tried to use marital fraud to escape them. Furthermore, we have filed an immediate freeze on all corporate credit accounts under your name.”
“What about my personal bank account?” Ryan asked, his voice breaking into a squeak. “I have fifty thousand dollars in my private checking account!”
“That account was frozen an hour ago by order of the chancery court,” Marcus replied flatly. “Pending an investigation into the $150,000 you embezzled from the joint marital estate over the past eighteen months to pay for Miss Maya’s luxury apartment leases and designer jewelry.”
Maya froze, turning to look at Ryan with wide, terrified eyes. “What? Embezzled? Ryan, you told me that money was from your annual corporate bonus!”
“Shut up, Maya!” Ryan yelled, turning on her in a flash of blind rage. “Just shut your mouth!”
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“Don’t you dare tell me to shut up!” Maya shrieked, shoving Ryan back hard against the glass wall. “You told me you were a multi-millionaire! You told me you owned the house, the firm, and the investments! You’re completely broke! You’re a fraud!”
The entire lobby of the high-rise watched as the former high-flying architect and his young mistress screamed at each other in front of security guards, process servers, and dozens of giggling corporate employees capturing the entire meltdown on their smartphones.
