Mark: You can't leave us out here on the curb! Let us back inside!
Guard: Step away from the gates, Mr. Vance. You are banned from this property permanently.
Mrs. Vance: Mark, my phone is ringing! It’s the board of directors!
Mark: Answer it! Tell them everything is fine!
Mrs. Vance: Hello? Yes... what do you mean emergency meeting? No! Don't sell the shares!
Outside the tall iron gates of the estate, Mark and his mother stood under the glaring sun, surrounded by paparazzi and news vans that had arrived within minutes. The street was blocked with luxury cars, but nobody was stopping to help them.
Mark: Give me that phone! Hello? Board Chairman?
Board Chairman: Mark, the video of you hitting Chloe Montgomery is already viral. Our stock price just crashed forty percent in twenty minutes.
Mark: It was a private matter! It was a family argument!
Board Chairman: It was assault, Mark. And you ruined our merger with Montgomery Global. The board has voted unanimously to terminate you as CEO effective immediately.
Mark: You can't fire me! My mother and I own thirty percent of the voting shares!
Board Chairman: Not anymore. Richard Montgomery just bought out your bank debt. He owns your shares now. You’re done, Mark.
The line went dead. Mark stared at his phone, his jaw dropping in absolute terror as the reality of his situation set in.
Mrs. Vance: What did he say, Mark? What did the board say?
Mark: They fired me... They took the company, Mom.
Mrs. Vance: No! No, that’s impossible! That company is our entire life’s work!
Mark: It’s gone. Everything is gone.
Before Mrs. Vance could respond, two black police cruisers pulled up to the curb with their lights flashing. Four officers stepped out and walked straight toward Mark and his mother.
Police Officer: Mark Vance?
Mark: Yes... what is this about?
Police Officer: You are under arrest for domestic battery and felony assault. Put your hands behind your back.
Mrs. Vance: You can't arrest my son! Do you know who we are?
Police Officer 2: Mrs. Evelyn Vance? You are also under arrest for grand larceny and corporate fraud. Turn around, ma'am.
Mrs. Vance: Fraud? I didn't steal anything! The money was ours by right!
Police Officer 2: You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.
The officers pushed Mark against the hood of the police car, snapping heavy steel handcuffs onto his wrists. He looked up toward the grand balcony of the estate, where Chloe was standing alongside her father, watching the entire scene unfold with a calm, cold expression.
Mark: Chloe! Please! Help me! Tell them to drop the charges!
Chloe: You should have kept your hands to yourself, Mark.
Mark: I'm sorry! I was wrong! I'll give back everything!
Chloe: It’s too late for apologies.
The police officer pushed Mark's head down and shoved him into the back seat of the patrol car, slamming the door shut. Mrs. Vance was placed into the second cruiser, weeping hysterically as her designer handbag fell onto the dusty asphalt.