By eight o'clock the following morning, the sun rose over the glass towers of the financial district.
Chad Sterling stood outside the locked glass doors of his corporate headquarters, frantically pounding on the handles.
Chad: Hey! Let me in! My keycard isn't working!
A corporate security guard stepped to the glass door, holding a clipboard.
Guard: Mr. Sterling, your access privileges were revoked at midnight by order of the executive board.
Chad: This is a mistake! I need to get to my desk to grab my personal files!
Guard: Your personal items have already been packed into two cardboard boxes sitting at the security desk.
Chad: You can't do this to me! I built the commercial leasing division from scratch!
Thomas: You built it on illegal extortion and fraudulent rent hikes, Mr. Sterling.
Chad spun around to see Thomas Vance, Eleanor's head corporate attorney, stepping out of a dark limousine accompanied by two city police officers.
Chad: Thomas! What is the meaning of this?! Why are there police officers here?!
Thomas: Chad Sterling, you are being served with a formal civil lawsuit for corporate embezzlement, along with a criminal investigation into illegal eviction practices.
Chad: Illegal eviction?! I run property management according to local housing codes!
Thomas: You inflated rent prices by fifty percent on rent-controlled apartments owned by the Vance Trust, pocketing the excess cash through offshore shell companies.
Chad's mouth went completely dry, his eyes darting frantically toward the street.
Chad: That... that's a lie! You have no proof of any shell companies!
Thomas: We audited your division's books five hours ago, Chad. Mrs. Vance authorized a full forensic audit after she left the gala last night.
Officer 1: Mr. Sterling, please step away from the building doors and put your hands behind your back.
Chad: Wait! Please! I can return the money! It was only three hundred thousand dollars over two years!
Thomas: Three hundred thousand dollars stolen from low-income families, single mothers, and disabled residents like Sarah Miller.
Chad: Sarah Miller? That sick seamstress?! She hasn't paid full rent in three months!
Thomas: She hasn't paid full rent because you artificially doubled her payment to force her onto the street!
Officer 1: Hands behind your back now, sir. Don't make this difficult.
The officers grabbed Chad's arms, clicking the cold metal handcuffs tightly around his wrists in front of dozens of arriving office workers.
Chad: Thomas, call Eleanor! Tell her I'll surrender all my company stock if she drops the criminal charges!
Thomas: Mrs. Vance isn't interested in your stock, Chad. She already seized your accounts under the emergency fraud recovery protocol.
Chad: You ruined my entire life over a stupid kid with a metal leg!
Thomas: You ruined your own life the second you decided that cruel power was more important than basic human decency.
The officers shoved the screaming executive into the back of the police cruiser, slamming the door shut as the siren blared through the morning air.