Chapter 6 - The Ultimatum
By 3:00 PM that afternoon, Daniel Cross was sitting in a corner booth of a quiet, upscale Italian restaurant in downtown Dublin, nervously tapping his fingers against a glass of ice water.
He had called my private cell from a burner number thirty minutes earlier, begging for five minutes of my time.
*“Just hear me out, Maggie. Please. For the love of everything we shared. Just meet me. Please.”*
I had agreed. Not out of pity, but because I wanted him to see, firsthand, exactly what happens when you underestimate a woman who built an empire.
I walked into the restaurant, dressed in a sharp, elegant emerald-green dress, my posture immaculate. The maitre d' immediately guided me to Daniel’s booth.
When Daniel saw me approach, he stood up quickly, his face pale, dark circles under his eyes, looking ten years older than the polished architect who had stood at the altar four days ago.
"Maggie," Daniel breathed out, reaching out a trembling hand. "Thank you. Thank you for coming."
I didn't take his hand. I slid into the opposite booth, resting my handbag on the seat beside me, and looked at him coldly.
"You have five minutes, Daniel," I said. "Start talking."
Daniel sank back into his seat, running a hand through his graying hair. "Maggie, I know how this looks. I know what Tyler did was reckless. But you have to understand... I was desperate. Sterling Capital was breathing down our necks. They were going to ruin us—ruin *me*. I love you, Maggie. I truly do. The marriage wasn't just a scheme."
"Really?" I raised an eyebrow. "Is that why the LLC paperwork was filed six weeks before our wedding?"
Daniel flinched, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. He had no defense. He had been caught completely red-handed.
"I made a mistake," Daniel whispered, his voice cracking with manufactured despair. "Please, Maggie. Drop the annulment. Drop the legal actions. Let’s go away. Just you and me. We can start over. I’ll cut Tyler off. I swear to God I will."
I reached into my handbag, pulled out a thick manila folder, and tossed it across the white tablecloth. It landed right in front of his water glass.
Daniel looked down at it, his hands trembling as he opened the flap. Inside were the newly executed debt assignment documents I had purchased from Victor Sterling just hours earlier.
"What... what is this?" Daniel whispered, flipping through the pages.
"That, Daniel," I said softly, leaning forward so every word hit him like a physical blow, "is your debt. All $2.4 million of it. Every defaulted note, every missed payment, every high-risk liability you and your son accumulated over the last three years."
Daniel’s face drained of the last remaining traces of color. He looked up at me in absolute, paralyzing horror.
"You... you bought our debt?" he choked out.
"I did," I replied calmly. "Which means, as of three o'clock this afternoon, I am your primary creditor. Not Victor Sterling. Me."
"Maggie, please..." Daniel stammered, his hands shaking violently as he dropped the papers. "You can't do this. We're husband and wife!"
"Not for much longer," I said, standing up smoothly from the booth and smoothing down the front of my emerald-green dress. "The emergency annulment hearing is scheduled for tomorrow morning at 9:00 AM. Since you entered into this marriage under false pretenses with the explicit intent to commit financial fraud, our legal union will be dissolved, your debts are now payable directly to me under strict commercial terms, and your architectural firm’s remaining assets will be liquidated to cover the balance."
Daniel sat paralyzed in the booth, staring up at me as if looking at a ghost. The charm, the confidence, the sophisticated architect facade—all of it was completely gone, leaving behind a desperate, broken man who had gambled everything on a con and lost absolutely everything.
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"Goodbye, Daniel," I said quietly, turning around and walking toward the exit without looking back.
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