Chapter 2 - The Falling House of Albright
Spencer Albright sat in his mahogany-paneled office,
sipping a twenty-year-old scotch and admiring his reflection in the window.
He was the king of Bel Air,
the successor to a construction empire,
and a man who believed the world existed only to serve him.
"Gwen is just being dramatic,"
he muttered to Cassandra,
who was busy admiring her new diamond earrings in his vanity mirror.
"She'll be back in two days,"
"begging for her allowance."
Cassandra giggled,
the sound like nails on a chalkboard.
"She’s so pathetic,
Spencer."
"Did you see her face when I hit that little brat?"
"She looked like a ghost."
The phone on Spencer’s desk began to ring,
a sharp,
insistent sound that broke the mood.
He picked it up with a sigh of annoyance.
"What is it,
Marcus?"
he snapped at his chief financial officer.
There was a silence on the other end,
then a voice that sounded like it was crumbling.
"Spencer... the bank... they've frozen everything."
Spencer sat up straighter,
his brow furrowing.
"What do you mean 'frozen'?"
"We have a fifty-million-dollar line of credit with First National."
"They canceled it ten minutes ago,"
Marcus whispered.
"And not just them."
"Our suppliers in China,
our logistics partners in Europe,"
"every single contract has a 'morality and stability' clause,"
"and someone just triggered them all."
"They’re calling in the loans,
Spencer."
"Every.
Single.
One."
Spencer felt a cold sweat break out on his upper lip.
"That’s impossible!"
"Who has that kind of power?"
Before Marcus could answer,
Patricia Albright burst into the room,
her face pale and her eyes wide with terror.
"Spencer!
My credit cards!"
"I was at the boutique,
and they declined me!"
"In front of the Mayor’s wife!"
"They told me my account was 'terminated for suspicion of money laundering'!"
The door to the office was suddenly shoved open,
and two men in dark suits walked in.
They weren't the police;
they were auditors from the Crawford Global Group.
"Mr. Albright?"
the lead man asked,
tossing a thick folder onto the desk.
"My name is Thomas Miller."
"I represent the Crawford family."
"It seems your company has been operating on a series of fraudulent loans,"
"backed by assets that don't belong to you."
Spencer’s jaw dropped.
"Crawford?
As in... Arthur Crawford?"
"The man who owns half the shipping lanes in the Pacific?"
"The same,"
Thomas replied,
his eyes as hard as flint.
"And it seems you’ve been mistreating one of his most precious assets."
"His daughter."
The silence in the room was deafening.
Cassandra’s hand went to her mouth,
her eyes darting to the door.
Patricia slumped into a chair,
her Chanel jacket suddenly looking like a cheap rag.
"Gwen?"
Spencer whispered,
the scotch glass slipping from his hand and shattering on the floor.
"Gwen is a Crawford?"
"Gwenyth Crawford,"
Thomas corrected.
"She’s been living under a pseudonym for six years,"
"studying you,
observing you,"
"and waiting for you to show your true colors."
"Today,"
"you showed them."
"And now,"
"the Crawford Group is reclaiming its investment."
"We've bought out your primary lenders,"
"we've seized your residential properties,"
"and we are currently filing a criminal referral with the SEC."
Spencer stood up,
his legs shaking.
"This can't be happening!"
"I'll talk to her!
I'll apologize!"
"I'll marry her again!"
Thomas smiled,
and it was the most terrifying thing Spencer had ever seen.
"You won't be talking to anyone,
Mr. Albright."
"Except your lawyers."
"And I should warn you,"
"the best ones in the city have already been put on retainer by us."
"Just so you can't hire them."
Thomas turned to leave,
but stopped at the doorway.
"Oh,
and the Grand Pinnacle Gala tonight?"
"I'd suggest you attend."
"Ms. Crawford would like to say her final goodbyes."
"In public."
Spencer fell back into his chair,
the room spinning around him.
The empire he had spent his life building was disappearing,
dissolving into nothingness like smoke in the wind.
He looked at Cassandra,
who was already checking her phone for her next target.
He looked at Patricia,
who was crying about her social standing.
May you like
He had lost everything,
and he didn't even know the half of it yet.
