Chapter 22: The Embezzlement Lawsuit
With Ethan and Chloe behind bars, the liquidators began recovering all remaining funds and assets associated with Carter Luxury Group.
Every luxury car, designer handbag, and villa that Ethan had bought for Chloe was seized by the court and sold at public auction.
Chloe sat in her prison cell, wearing a gray jumpsuit, scrubbing concrete floors with a heavy brush. Her hands, once carefully manicured, were now calloused and rough.
Her cellmate, a tough woman convicted of armed robbery, tossed a rag onto Chloe’s head.
“Hey! Mistress!” the woman barked. “You missed a spot over there! Scrub harder if you want to eat lunch today!”
Chloe whimpered, wiping her tears with her sleeve as she scrubbed the floor. “I used to be the general manager of a luxury restaurant… I used to wear three-hundred-thousand-dollar gowns…”
“Shut up!” the cellmate laughed harshly. “You’re a thief who stole from a real queen. Know your place!”
Meanwhile, in the state penitentiary’s cafeteria, Ethan was assigned to kitchen duty, washing hundreds of greasy metal trays every single day.
His back ached, his fingers were raw, and his body was exhausted. Whenever he looked at the TV mounted in the corner of the cafeteria, he saw news of Natalie’s booming empire.
Headline: Sinclair Consortium reports record third-quarter profits of $4.2 Billion under Chairwoman Natalie Sinclair.
Ethan gripped the soapy sponge in his trembling hand, tears falling silently into the dishwater. He had owned that world once. He had held the queen’s hand. And he had traded it all for a moment of foolish arrogance.
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