He Bought His Mistress Pearls While His Twins Burned With Fever — Until His Wife Left Before He Unlocked the Door

By 8:00 AM on Christmas morning, Cole was a nervous wreck. After being thrown out of the hospital by security, he had spent the night in his car outside his penthouse, unable to bring himself to go back inside.

Desperate to regain control, Cole drove to the corporate headquarters of his firm, Vance Capital, intending to access his private office safe and move his personal savings out of his joint bank accounts.

He tapped his electronic security badge against the glass turnstile in the grand lobby.

BEEP-BEEP. ACCESS DENIED.

Cole froze, tapping the card again aggressively. ACCESS DENIED.

"Is there a problem with the scanner?" Cole demanded loudly to the head security officer at the front desk. "I'm Senior Director Cole Miller!"

"Mr. Miller," a stern voice spoke from the private executive elevator.

Out stepped Arthur Vance, the CEO of Vance Capital, flanked by two corporate attorneys. Arthur was holding a printed legal notice stamped with an emergency court injunction.

"Arthur... what's going on?" Cole stuttered, his face draining of color. "Why is my badge revoked?"

"As of 6:00 AM today, Vance Capital has been served with an emergency asset freeze and corporate ethics notice," Arthur stated coldly. "The holding company that owns thirty percent of our firm's capital stock—Sterling Maritime Trust—has initiated a full audit into your expense accounts regarding unauthorized jewelry purchases on company credit."