Chapter 2: The Arrival of the Titan
The bailiff, a heavyset man dozing near the metal detector, leaped to his feet, his hand dropping to his utility belt.
“Hey! Court is adjourned, you can’t just come barging in here,” he shouted, but the words died in his throat as he saw who entered.
Striding down the center aisle of the courtroom was a man who seemed to instantly suck all the oxygen out of the room.
It was Harrison Payne, the notoriously elusive, ruthless CEO of Apex Global, a multi-billion dollar international conglomerate.
He moved with the terrifying, unhurried grace of a silverback gorilla, his late fifties age not slowing him down in the slightest.
He was tall and broad-shouldered, carrying a heavy, silver-tipped walking cane that struck the linoleum with a rhythmic, thunderous thud.
His tailored charcoal suit radiated a silent, immense wealth that instantly made Jacob’s Italian silk look like cheap, synthetic polyester.
Harrison was not alone, as four men wearing dark suits and coiled earpieces fanned out behind him in a tactical formation, effectively locking down the courtroom exits.
Two severe-looking men carrying leather briefcases, clearly high-powered litigators, flanked his sides.
The temperature in the room plummeted, and I watched as Harrison’s icy blue eyes bypassed the empty judge’s bench.
They bypassed the bailiff, they bypassed Brenda, and they bypassed Jacob entirely.
His eyes locked dead on me.
For a fraction of a second, the harsh, weathered lines of the billionaire’s face softened, and a lifetime of agonizing, bone-deep grief briefly fractured his granite expression.
His hand tightened around the head of his cane until his knuckles turned white.
Then, the softness vanished, replaced by a cold, murderous fury as he slowly turned his head to look at Jacob.
“Without you?” Harrison spoke, his voice not loud, but a low, seismic rumble that vibrated in the floorboards and rattled in my chest.
He stepped directly between Jacob and my table, his massive frame effectively shielding me from my ex-husband’s sight.
“My daughter and my grandchild will live like royalty,” Harrison stated, the words falling like heavy iron anvils.
“And you, you pathetic, arrogant parasite, will cease to exist in any meaningful capacity by the end of the fiscal quarter,” he added with a tone of absolute finality.
Jacob’s smug smile curdled instantly, and the blood drained from his face so rapidly his skin took on a sickly, translucent gray hue.
His jaw literally dropped, his eyes darting frantically between my thrift-store dress and the terrifying titan standing in front of him.
“Mr… Mr. Payne?” Jacob stammered, his polished baritone cracking into a high, prepubescent squeak as a sheen of cold sweat broke out on his forehead.
“Sir, there must be some sort of misunderstanding here,” he pleaded.
