Chapter 5 - The Desperate Smear Campaign
You would think absolute ruin would humble them, but narcissists only double down.
By the end of the week, Marcus and Beatrice, now living in a cramped two-bedroom apartment rented with the last of Marcus's personal savings, decided to go to war in the court of public opinion.
My phone buzzed on a Tuesday morning. It was a Google Alert for my name.
They had gone to a sleazy local tabloid and spun a horrific narrative. The headline read: TECH HEIRESS DECEIVES HUSBAND, LEAVES FAMILY HOMELESS. In the article, Marcus painted himself as a devoted, hardworking husband who had been manipulated by a sociopathic billionaire. He claimed he built his company from the ground up, and that I had used legal loopholes to steal it from him. Beatrice gave a tearful quote about how I had emotionally abused them for years.
"They’re trying to force a settlement," Vance told me over the phone, sounding entirely unbothered. "They want you to pay them off to make the bad press go away."
"Let them talk," I said, looking out the window of my private office. "Give a fool enough rope, and he’ll hang himself. Did the private investigator find what we were looking for?"
"Oh, absolutely," Vance chuckled. "Marcus wasn't just losing money because he's a terrible businessman. He was actively embezzling the few legitimate profits Vanguard Logistics made."
My eyes narrowed. "Where did the money go?"
"A luxury condo downtown. Rented under a fake name. He’s been keeping a mistress for two years. A twenty-two-year-old Instagram model named Chloe. He bought her a G-Wagon, Serena. With your money."
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A cold, dangerous smile spread across my face. Getting slapped was the catalyst, but finding out he had been funding a mistress with my capital? That required absolute annihilation.
"Vance," I said quietly. "It’s time to burn his life to the ground."
