Chapter 10 - The Public Execution
8:00 a.m.
The morning news broadcast on CNBC opened with a breaking banner that turned the financial district upside down.
"APEX CAPITAL COLLAPSES OVERNIGHT; MANAGING PARTNER ARRESTED IN MASSIVE FED PROBE."
In her father’s eight-million-dollar estate in Greenwich, Chloe sat on her bedroom floor in her pajamas, her face buried in her knees as three federal agents in blue jackets packed her designer handbags and diamond jewelry into clear plastic evidence bags.
"You can't take those!" she sobbed, looking up at the lead agent. "Those were personal gifts!"
"Purchased with funds drawn from an unregistered offshore account, Miss Miller," the agent replied without stopping. "Everything in this house is subject to federal forfeiture under the RICO warrant."
Her phone buzzed on the floor. It was a notification from the New York State Bar Association:
NOTICE OF IMMEDIATE SUSPENSION: CHLOE MILLER, ESQ.
She threw the phone against the wall, watching it shatter into pieces, before curling back into a ball on the carpet as the agents continued clearing her room.
Down in Wall Street, three hundred employees arrived at the glass doors of Apex Capital’s headquarters only to find six armed federal marshals standing outside, a large yellow notice taped to the glass:
May you like
PROPERTY OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT. CLOSED BY ORDER OF THE DISTRICT COURT.
Julian’s name had already been scrubbed from the building directory in the lobby.
