Chapter 314
Chapter 314:
“Phone call!” the guard barked, unlocking the bars. “Miller. You get one. Make it count p>
Seraphina scrambled up, her bare feet slapping against the cold floor. She didn’t call Liam. Deep down, she knew Liam was the one who had likely handed over the supplementary files to save his own skin.
She dialed the only number that mattered now—the number of the man who had orchestrated this entire charade.
Ring. Ring. Ring.
“This is Mr. Thorne’s attorney,” a crisp, unfamiliar voice answered.
“Dominic!” Seraphina sobbed into the receiver. “Put Dominic on! They arrested me! They know about the fake identity! They know I’m not Eleanor p>
“Mr. Thorne is unavailable,” the lawyer said, his tone devoid of sympathy. “Mr. Thorne is currently in federal custody regarding charges of kidnapping and extortion filed last night. He is unable to take calls p>
“You have to get me out!” Seraphina pleaded, gripping the phone cord. “I did what he said! I wore the dress! I played the part p>
“And you failed,” the voice cut her off. “Ms. Miller, Mr. Thorne has instructed me to inform you that your employment is terminated. Furthermore, since you were acting outside the scope of your agreed duties by getting caught, you are on your own p>
“What?” Seraphina stopped breathing. The blood drained from her face. “But… my mother. He said he’d hurt my mother if I talked p>
“Your mother?” The lawyer paused, a hint of cruel amusement in his voice. “I believe Ms. Sterling’s associates located your mother at the underground casino last night. She is currently in protective custody. You have no leverage, and neither do we. Good luck, Ms. Miller p>
Click. The line went dead.
Seraphina stared at the receiver. The dial tone buzzed in her ear like an angry hornet. Dominic had cut her loose. He was letting her rot to save himself.
She slumped against the wall, sliding down until she hit the floor. The image of Skye standing on the balcony, looking down at her as the police cuffed her, burned in her mind. Skye hadn’t looked angry. She had looked bored.
Meanwhile, in the sterile, gray interview room of the Metropolitan Detention Center, Dominic Thorne sat shackled to a metal table. He wasn’t smashing glasses in a high-rise office; he was seething in a cage.
𝖭𝗮𝗏i𝗴a𝘵е 𝘦𝖺𝘀𝗶𝗅𝗒 𝗈n 𝗯𝘦.𝘤о𝗆
Across from him sat his lead counsel, a man named Sterling—no relation to Skye—who looked uncomfortable in the harsh fluorescent light.
“Incompetent!” Dominic roared, straining against the cuffs, the sound echoing off the concrete walls. “She is utterly, uselessly incompetent p>
On the small, wall-mounted TV in the corner, the news played a loop of Seraphina’s arrest. Worse, the ticker at the bottom read: ORACLE HOLDINGS MOVES TO ACQUIRE KENSINGTON DEBT.
“Skye didn’t just win,” Dominic sneered, his eyes bloodshot from a sleepless night on a cot. “She’s cleaning the board. She’s using the chaos I created to swallow Liam whole p>
“Sir,” the lawyer whispered, glancing at the mirror that undoubtedly hid a camera, “we need to focus on your bail hearing. The kidnapping charge is serious. The DA is pushing for flight-risk status p>
“Forget bail,” Dominic hissed, leaning forward. “If I go down, I’m taking the merger with me. I need you to initiate the contingency. You have the access codes to my external servers p>
“Sir, that’s p>
“Do it!” Dominic commanded, his voice a low, dangerous growl. “Burn the bridge with the Sinclair Group. Leak the falsified financials. Make Kensington radioactively toxic. If I can’t have it, no one does p>