Chapter 14
While Emily's tactical team secured the penthouse and sanitized the scene, the Carter family was experiencing a very different kind of nightmare.
The cheap, cramped motel room on the outskirts of the city smelled of stale smoke and damp carpet. David, Jessica, and Michael sat on the two sagging beds, the reality of their sudden, absolute poverty crushing them. The bright, cinematic luxury of their former estate felt like a fever dream.
"Ten million dollars, Michael?!" David roared, his face a terrifying shade of purple. "You borrowed ten million dollars from the Russian syndicate and forged her signature?!"
"I was going to pay it back!" Michael shrieked, his fair, rosy skin pale and slick with panicked sweat. "I invested it in a crypto-startup! It was supposed to triple! But the market crashed, and Emily fired me before I could funnel the corporate funds to cover the margin call!"
"You stupid, arrogant fool!" Jessica shrieked, clutching her face. She was stripped of her heavy diamond jewelry, looking old and completely broken. "They are going to kill us! If Emily doesn't pay them, they will hunt us down!"
"Emily will pay them," Michael insisted desperately, pacing the tiny room. "She has to! They have a lien on her corporate headquarters! She'll liquidate assets to save her precious company, and the debt will be cleared!"
Suddenly, the flimsy wooden door of the motel room was kicked completely off its hinges.
Three massive men in dark leather jackets stormed into the room. They weren't police officers, and they certainly weren't Emily's security detail.
David tried to stand up, but the lead enforcer drove a heavy, steel-toed boot directly into the old man's chest, knocking him backward over a cheap plastic chair. Jessica screamed, scrambling into the corner.
"Michael Carter," the enforcer rumbled, his thick Russian accent dripping with malice. He grabbed the terrified, thirty-eight-year-old man by the throat and slammed him against the peeling wallpaper.
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"Please! My wife has the money! Emily Carter! She's paying you!" Michael sobbed, his arrogant bravado entirely erased.
"Your wife just slaughtered our collection team," the enforcer stated coldly, tightening his grip until Michael began to choke. "She sent us a message. She said the debt is yours, and we can collect it however we see fit."
