Arrogant Billionaire Asks Waitress for Financial Advice to Mock Her — What She Says Stuns Him
Chapter 12
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"I quit my job at Goldman Sachs to take care of her. I gave up everything: my career, my savings, my future... because of what you did. And for three years, I've been serving you eggs Benedict every Saturday while you talked about your deals three feet away from me."She was close to him now, close enough to see the sweat beading on his forehead."You never once looked at me long enough to wonder who I might be."Garrett's face had gone the color of old paper. "I didn't... that's just business. I didn't know.""That's the point." Felicia's voice was steady as stone. "You never know. You never care. To you, we're just numbers. Just collateral damage. Just people who don't matter." She looked around the room at all the wealthy faces watching in stunned silence. "But those numbers have names. Those names have families. And sometimes, those families remember."Caroline Hayes had her hand over her mouth. Her eyes were wet. "My God," she whispered. "Garrett, you destroyed her family."Garrett's mouth opened and closed. For the first time in perhaps his entire life, he had nothing to say.Felicia stepped back. "You asked me for financial advice, Mr. Whitmore. You wanted me to teach you about money." She smiled, and there was no warmth in it at all. "Lesson one: everything has a price. Even arrogance."Garrett's survival instincts finally kicked in. "This is entrapment!" His voice cracked slightly, but he pushed through. "You set me up! This whole thing—the bet, the questions—it's a setup! I'll have you arrested!""For what?" a voice asked from across the room. "Answering your question?"A woman stood up from a corner table: 40s, sharp suit, press credentials visible around her neck."Sarah Wade, New York Times. I've been investigating Whitmore Capital for 18 months."Garrett's face went slack."Felicia has been one of my sources," Sarah continued, walking toward the center of the room. "She reached out a year ago with evidence of potential securities fraud. Everything she mentioned today—the pump and dump scheme, the insider selling, the accounting irregularities—I've verified independently through my own investigation." She pulled out her phone and held it up. "And the SEC investigation that just broke? My story runs Monday morning. Front page. This conversation just gave me my opening paragraph."The room erupted in murmurs. Garrett pointed a shaking finger at Felicia. "You... you planned this. All of it."Felicia met his gaze calmly. "You planned to defraud millions of investors. I planned to stop you. We all have our goals.""Two years!" Garrett sputtered. "You worked here for two years just to—""To listen. To learn. To gather evidence." Felicia nodded. "You talked about your schemes three feet away from me every Saturday. You never noticed because you never see people like me. We're invisible to you." She paused. "That was your mistake."