Page 135 of Heat & Deceit
God, I love my lawyer.
I nod, and he stands, slapping two stacks of paper onto the conference table and shooting them across the table, mimicking the fanfare of the other lawyer. Howard snatches up his packet, but Marge stops it and sneers at me.
“You think we’ll just let you do this?”
“Yes.”
“You’re going to regret—”
“I’d reconsider threatening me.” I point to the document in her hand. “There will be no severance. You’re fired, as of now. You have thirty minutes to gather your things, but you may want to leave now.”
“How dare you!”
“Marge,” Howard says, eyes roving over the page with the warrant for their arrest.
“No, Howie. This asshole thinks he can come in here and take over—”
“Marge!” Howard shouts, throwing the papers on the table and jamming his finger onto the page.
She huffs and glares down at it, the warrant knocking the wind out of her sails. Her shoulders deflate, and she flicks her gaze up to meet mine. “Is this real?”
I shrug. “Feel free to stick around and find out.” I shove my hands into my pockets and walk around the table. “Skimming from the company to pay back investors for your stupid hedge fund? What was that called again, Winston?”
“Fraud,” Winston growls.
Their lawyers blanch and quickly leave the room. They know it’ll be a losing battle, and depending on the information they were privy to, they may be facing charges as well.
“Ah, right. Fraud.” I take a slow perusal of all the gaudy jewelry adorning Marge. “I don’t think they allow diamonds in prison.”
“You little shit,” she growls, launching herself at me, but Howard catches her around the waist.
I laugh, but it’s a hollow and dangerous sound. “After all you’ve done, you thought I’d let you fire Rome and get away with the rest of it?” I shake my head. “Run while you can.”
And they do just that, turning and tucking tail. I watch with a certain amount of malice as Howard presses the button for the elevator over and over. A wicked smirk cuts across my face as the doors open to reveal five officers.
“No!” Marge shrieks. “Howie!”
“Shut the fuck up, Marge!”
“You bastard,” she seethes, trying to run but getting immediately tackled. They’re arrested and escorted from the building.
Winston winces. “Well, that wasn’t as dramatic as I thought it might be.”
“It still felt good.”
“That it did, my boy.” Winston claps me on the shoulder. “Shall I draw up papers to sell the company?”
“No.”
“No? This is a bad investment, Javier. You should get rid of it.”
“We can take a hit,” I say, pulling out my phone and dialing Rome.
“Hello?”
“Your parents have been arrested for fraud. We own the company. I need you to leave work and come tell me how to run this place.”
“What the fuck?”
