Chapter 5 - The Serpent at the Gate
The lobby of Ellison Global was a chaotic zoo.
Bright TV lights illuminated the marble floor, reflecting off the glass walls. Cameras were rolling, and a crowd of reporters shoved microphones forward. In the center of the madness stood Hector.
He looked worse than he had four years ago. His leather jacket was scuffed, his eyes were bloodshot, and he had that slick, desperate grin of a gambler who thought he had finally hit the jackpot.
"I just want my baby back!" Hector was yelling into a reporter's microphone, shedding fake, practiced tears. "Rosa Santos took my daughter! She’s keeping her in this billionaire's playhouse! They won't let me see my own flesh and blood!"
I stepped out of the private elevator right behind Marcus. The moment Hector saw me, his grin flickered for a fraction of a second before he put on his victim face.
"Rosa!" Hector cried out, stepping forward with open arms. "Rosa, baby! Tell them! Tell them I’m Lily’s father! Tell them this monster took you away from me!"
"Stop it, Hector!" I shouted, my voice echoing off the tall marble walls. I felt a surge of rage so hot it wiped away all my fear. "You abandoned us four years ago! You left me in a jail cell when I was pregnant! You haven't paid a single cent of support, you’ve never sent a birthday card, and you ran to Mexico when the police came for you!"
The reporters immediately turned their cameras on me, flashbulbs popping like fireworks.
"Is that true, Miss Santos?" a reporter yelled. "Is he the father?"
"Did Mr. Ellison pay off your ex-fiancé?" another shouted.
Hector sneered, stepping closer. "She’s lying! Ellison bought her off! He’s using my daughter as a tax shield, or worse—"
SMACK.
The sound echoed through the entire lobby like a gunshot.
Hector’s head snapped to the side. He stumbled back two steps, clutching his left cheek in complete shock.
Marcus stood right in front of him, his hand still lowered from the terrifyingly swift slap he had just delivered. Marcus didn't look angry; he looked like a god passing judgment on a bug.
"Touch her again, or speak her name in public again," Marcus said, his voice low, steady, and vibrating with pure venom, "and I will buy the debt on every loan shark, bail bondsman, and criminal organization you owe money to in three states. And I will execute those collection warrants by midnight tonight."
Hector went dead pale. His eyes dilated in sheer terror.
He knew. He knew that Marcus wasn't making a dramatic movie threat. A man with ten billion dollars could ruin a street thug like Hector with a single phone call to the right bank.
"You... you can't touch me," Hector stuttered, backing away toward the front exit. "The media’s watching! I have rights!"
"You have the right to remain silent," a sharp voice called out from the side doors.
Four uniformed NYPD officers stepped into the lobby, accompanied by Vance, Marcus’s chief of security.
"Hector Vance?" the lead officer said, pulling out a pair of steel handcuffs. "You’re under arrest for grand larceny, identity theft, and outstanding federal warrants originating from New Jersey."
"What?!" Hector shrieked, backing into a security guard. "On whose authority?!"
"On the authority of Caldwell Logistics' bank records," Marcus said coldly, stepping forward as the officers forced Hector’s hands behind his back. "Julian Caldwell paid you fifty thousand dollars yesterday to show up here and make this scene. They wired it from a shell account in Delaware. An account that federal agents seized two hours ago."
Hector’s face drained of all color. He looked at me, his eyes wide with desperate pleading. "Rosa! Rosa, help me! Tell them! I’m Lily’s dad!"
I looked at the man who had terrified me for years, the man whose ghost had haunted my dreams every time I struggled to pay rent or feed my child.
I looked at him, and I felt absolutely nothing.
"My daughter doesn't have a father named Hector," I said clearly, loud enough for every news camera to catch every single word. "Her father is the man who protects her. And that man will never be you."
As the police dragged a screaming Hector out through the revolving glass doors, the reporters went dead quiet.
Marcus turned to face the cameras. He didn't run. He didn't hide. He adjusted his cuff-links, looked directly into the main lens, and spoke with an authority that left no room for doubt.
"For the past forty-eight hours," Marcus said to the press, "certain individuals have tried to drag Miss Santos and her daughter through the dirt to save their own failing criminal empire. Let me be clear. Rosa Santos is not a conspirator. She is an executive staff member at Ellison Global, and her daughter saved this company from a multi-billion-dollar breach."
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He paused, stepping right beside me, taking my hand in his—firmly, openly, in front of the entire world.
"Anyone who attacks her, attacks me," Marcus said. "And Ellison Global does not lose."
