Chapter 15 - Fractured Alliances
Julian jumped out of his chair, knocking the heavy leather executive armchair backward against the wall. The veneer of calm, sophisticated power he had worn thirty minutes earlier shattered into frantic, feral panic.
"This wasn't the deal!" Julian screamed at Montgomery, clutching his slicked-back hair with both hands. "You swore the SEC filing would force Raymond Harrell to settle! You said they would hand over the commercial leases to avoid public disgrace!"
Montgomery turned on Julian with terrifying savagery, his gray eyes bulging. "Shut your mouth, you pathetic little worm! You’re panicking in front of children!"
"Children?!" Julian yelled, his voice cracking into high-pitched hysteria. "Phoebe just destroyed our entire liquidity line in twenty minutes! Do you know what happens to me if the feds tie me to those Cayman shell accounts?! I violate my federal probation! I’ll do twenty-five years in federal penitentiary!"
"You'll do whatever I tell you to do," Montgomery hissed, stepping up to Julian and grabbing him violently by his lapels. "You signed those documents under your own corporate identity, Julian. If I go down, you take the full brunt of the criminal conspiracy charge. You are the signatory, Conway. Not me. I am merely an outside creditor."
Julian’s face went paper-white. The horrific realization struck him like a sledgehammer to the chest.
Montgomery had never planned to share the spoils with him. Julian was, once again, nothing more than a designated fall guy—a useful idiot dressed up in an expensive suit to draw the fire while the real puppet master pulled the strings.
Phoebe watched the spectacle unfold before her, her arms crossed over her chest, not a single trace of pity in her heart.
"You never learn, Julian," Phoebe said softly, her voice cutting through their argument like a razor. "Three years ago, you betrayed me for Paisley Daley because she flattered your ego. Then you betrayed Paisley to save your own skin during the Apex collapse. And now, you let an exiled monster use you as human shield to fight a battle he lost thirty years ago."
Julian let go of Montgomery, stumbling backward toward Phoebe. He reached out with trembling, desperate hands, tears of panic welling in his red-rimmed eyes.
"Phoebe... please," Julian begged, his voice dropping into the same nauseating, sniveling tone he had used on the rainy pavement months ago. "You have to help me. I didn't want this! Montgomery found me... he threatened to expose my old Apex dealings to the state prosecutors if I didn't cooperate! I had no choice! Phoebe, we were married for three years! You loved me once!"
Raymond took a step forward, his chest heaving with fury, but Phoebe raised one delicate hand, stopping her father in his tracks.
She looked at Julian, her emerald eyes cold, brilliant, and utterly detached.
"I didn't love you, Julian," she said, her voice dropping to a deadly whisper. "I loved the man I foolishly thought you had the potential to become. But you were never that man. You were always this: an empty, cowardly shadow who blames everyone else for his own worthlessness."
"Phoebe, please!" Julian fell to his knees before her, grabbing at the hem of her designer slacks. "I’ll testify against Montgomery! I’ll sign whatever you want! I’ll give you everything!"
Phoebe stepped back, cleanly pulling her pant leg away from his touch. "Marcus," she called calmly.
Marcus Cole stepped forward immediately, towering over the kneeling man. "Yes, Miss Harrell?"
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"Remove this beggar from my boardroom," Phoebe said coldly. "And notify the United States Marshals that Julian Conway has violated his release conditions. He has until noon to turn himself in."
***
