Two hours later, the glass doors of the seventy-story Vance Global Tower opened in the financial district of Dallas.
Carter stood in the lobby, his clothes disheveled and his hair wild, frantically pushing past two security guards at the turnstiles.
Carter: I need to see Elena Vance! Tell her Carter Sterling is downstairs!
Guard Thomas: Mr. Sterling, you don't have an appointment, and you are not on the visitor clearance log.
Carter: I am her husband! Look at me! I am her husband!
Guard Thomas: Your marriage annulment papers were served to your attorney forty minutes ago, sir.
Carter: I don't care about the annulment! Let me up to the executive floor!
A soft chime echoed from the private express elevator, and the doors slid open to reveal Elena standing alongside two sharp-suited legal advisors.
She wore a tailored black blazer over a crisp white shirt, her dark hair pulled back into a tight bun.
The cuts on her cheekbone were covered with neat medical strips, but her posture was towering and absolute.
Elena: Let him through, Thomas. He can have his two minutes.
Guard Thomas: Yes, Miss Vance.
Carter stumbled forward, dropping to his knees on the polished marble floor right in front of her polished leather heels.
Carter: Elena... Elena, please! Look at me! I'm begging you!
Elena: Standing on marble seems to be a habit of yours today, Carter.
Carter: I was wrong! My mother was wrong! I didn't know she had her security team lock you in that room!
Elena: You stood right beside her at the gala and charged at me with your fists raised, Carter. You didn't ask questions; you just chose her side like you always do.
Carter: I was confused! I was blinded by the commotion!
Elena: You weren't confused. You were arrogant. You thought because I stayed quiet for three years, I was weak.
Carter: The SEC is seizing the company, Elena! They're taking the penthouse! My mother is having a nervous breakdown in the lobby downstairs!
Elena: Your mother forged my signature to steal my mother's inheritance while I was suffering from pneumonia in a hospital bed.
Carter: I'll make her return every cent! I'll force her to sign over her personal property to you!
Elena: She doesn't have any personal property left, Carter. I purchased the mortgage on the Sterling estate from your lender at eight o'clock this morning.
Carter looked up in utter horror, his jaw trembling as he stared into her icy eyes.
Carter: You bought our home?
Elena: The foreclosure notice was served to your butler ten minutes ago. You and your mother have until five o'clock today to pack your personal belongings in trash bags and clear out.
Carter: Where are we supposed to go?! We have no money left! The bank accounts are frozen!
Elena: That sounds like a personal problem for the former root administrator of Sterling Holdings.
Carter: Elena, please... We were married! We shared a life together! You can't just throw me out on the street!
Elena: You threw me into a dark basement storage room and let three men bruise my face, Carter. You didn't care about our life then.
Carter: I am begging you! I'll do anything! I'll work for your father's company! I'll clean the floors!
Elena leaned down slightly, looking into his bloodshot eyes with the exact same cold smirk she had worn in the grand hall.
Elena: I told you yesterday that you'd be begging for my forgiveness. And what did I say I would do?
Carter: Elena...
Elena: I said I wouldn't be listening. Escort him out of the building, Thomas.
The security guards grabbed Carter under his arms, dragging him back toward the revolving glass doors as he screamed her name across the crowded lobby.