"Ms. Vance... I brought my wife here to apologize personally," Richard stammered, his voice shaking. "What she did in the lobby today was unpardonable! It was stupid, disgraceful, and completely wrong! She knows it! Show her, Evelyn! Tell her!"
Evelyn burst into fresh tears, falling onto her knees on the carpet in front of Victoria, her hands clasped together in desperate supplication.
"Ms. Vance! Please forgive me!" Evelyn sobbed frantically, her voice echoing off the glass walls. "I was wrong! I was blind! I thought... I thought someone had taken my bag! I didn't mean to attack you! I didn't know who you were!"
Victoria looked down at the weeping woman on her floor. Her brown eyes remained icy cold, completely untouched by the theatrical display of regret.
"You didn't know who I was," Victoria repeated softly, her voice carrying a chilling resonance. "That is the third time today someone has offered that excuse, Mrs. Croft. You believe that respect, basic courtesy, and civil rights are only owed to individuals whose names you recognize or whose power you fear."
"No! No, Ms. Vance!" Evelyn cried out, reaching a hand toward the hem of Victoria's skirt, though Gabriel immediately took a step forward, causing Evelyn to pull her hand back in terror. "I am sorry! I will issue any statement! I will pay any fine! Just please... ask Sterling Capital to restore our credit line! Don't destroy my husband's company!"
Chapter 15: The Final Judgment
Richard took a step closer, his eyes bloodshot with desperation. "Ms. Vance! My firm employs over four hundred people! We have construction contracts across three states! Forty years of hard work, building a family name—all of it will be gone by tomorrow morning if Sterling Capital doesn't release that forty-million-dollar escrow!"
Victoria looked from the weeping woman on the floor up to the trembling man standing before her.
"Your company did not collapse because of my legal filings, Mr. Croft," Victoria stated, her voice quiet, steady, and razor-sharp. "Your company collapsed because you built an organization anchored by leaders who believe they are above the law. You allowed your wife to move through society using your wealth as a weapon to degrade, accuse, and intimidate innocent people."
She stepped forward, her red heels making no sound against the thick velvet carpet as she stood directly over Evelyn.
"When your wife pointed her finger at me in that lobby today," Victoria continued, her tone dropping into a low, terrifying register, "she did not see a human being. She saw a target for her vanity. She saw someone she assumed lacked the resources to fight back. She summoned law enforcement officers, instructed them to violate my constitutional rights, and attempted to publicly ruin my reputation to satisfy her own ego."
"I was wrong!" Evelyn wailed from the floor, burying her face in her hands. "I was wrong!"
"You were not wrong about the bag, Mrs. Croft," Victoria corrected her coldly. "You were wrong about the consequences."
Victoria turned her eyes back to Richard.
"At two o'clock this afternoon, my senior litigation partner filed a formal civil lawsuit against you and Croft Real Estate Holdings in federal court," Victoria announced smoothly. "We are seeking seventy-five million dollars in punitive and compensatory damages for defamation per se, public slander, and civil rights violations."
Richard’s mouth opened, but no sound came out. His face turned a sickly shade of grey. "Seventy... seventy-five million...?"
"Furthermore," Victoria added, turning to Marcus Sterling, "Sterling Capital has already initiated asset-freeze proceedings against your primary collateral holdings. By five o'clock today, your corporate bank accounts will be formally locked by court order."
"You're destroying us..." Richard whispered, his knees buckling slightly as he held onto the edge of a mahogany side table for support. "You're completely destroying us..."
"No, Mr. Croft," Victoria said softly, adjusting her grip on her burgundy Hermès Birkin bag. "You destroyed yourselves the moment you assumed that wealth gave you the privilege to walk over others without paying the toll."
She looked over at Gabriel. "Gabriel. Escort Mr. and Mrs. Croft off the hotel premises. If they set foot on this property again, have them arrested for criminal trespass."
"Understood, Ms. Vance," Gabriel said, stepping forward with two security officers who had been waiting in the foyer.
"Ms. Vance! Please! One more chance!" Richard begged as the security guards took him firmly by the arms, dragging him backward out of the living room while Evelyn wept hysterically on the carpet, being lifted up by the second officer. "Please! Have mercy!"