Chapter 4 - Stripping the Emeralds
Serena attempted to slip through the front entrance to grab her handbag, but two private security guards immediately stepped in front of the door, blocking the threshold with crossed arms.
"Excuse me!" Serena shrilled, her aristocratic facade completely crumbling into desperate panic. "I am an executive employee of Vance Industries! You cannot detain me!"
"You were an executive employee until 9:00 AM this morning, Ms. Davis," Nathan Cross stated, pulling out an official termination notice. "As of two hours ago, the Board of Directors unanimously voted to terminate your contract for gross misconduct, breach of fiduciary duty, and corporate embezzlement."
I walked slowly toward Serena, holding Maya securely against my chest.
"First," I said, looking directly into her eyes, "take off my mother's necklace."
Serena’s hands rose defensively to the emerald pendant. "Julian gave this to me! It was a gift!"
"Julian stole it from my safe deposit box on Tuesday morning," I replied with chilling clarity. "The necklace is a nineteenth-century Colombian emerald heirloom appraised at $350,000, registered in the national jewelry database under my family's estate. If that clasp is not undone in three seconds, Detective Morales of the Major Financial Crimes Division—who is currently waiting at the gate—will book you for Grand Larceny in the first degree."
Serena looked at Julian, hoping for a defense, but Julian was staring blankly at the lawn, completely paralyzed by the collapse of his reality.
Crying in humiliating defeat, Serena unlatched the gold clasp with trembling fingers. She handed the emerald necklace to Nathan Cross, who placed it into a velvet-lined jewelry case.
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"Now take off the coat," I added softly. "It was bought with my father's corporate expense card."
Sobbing uncontrollably, Serena stripped off the cashmere coat, standing shivering in the freezing wind in her thin shirt, clutching her purse as security escorted her down the long driveway toward the main road on foot.
