Chapter 5 - The Fall of the Mistress
Vanessa Brooks had always believed she was untouchable because she was beautiful and sleeping with the boss.
But beauty doesn't protect you in a sterile, concrete interrogation room.
I stood behind the one-way glass with Marcus and Detective Reynolds, watching Vanessa crack. She was wearing an orange county jumpsuit. Her makeup was smeared, her designer extensions were a mess, and she was sobbing hysterically.
“I didn't want to do it!” Vanessa wailed, slamming her handcuffed wrists on the metal table. “Daniel made me crazy! He told me he was going to leave her, but he kept stalling! When she showed up at the office, I just snapped! But he helped me hide the scissors! He told me he would protect me!”
The detective sitting across from Vanessa leaned forward. “Ms. Brooks, you are facing five years in state prison for aggravated assault. Unless you have something to offer the District Attorney, you are going to trial.”
Vanessa’s eyes widened with sheer panic.
“I have records!” she blurted out, her survival instinct overriding any loyalty she had to Daniel. “Daniel wasn't just paying for my hotels. He was using a dummy vendor account to funnel company money into a private offshore trust! Millions of dollars! I can give you the account numbers! Just please, don't put me in prison!”
Behind the glass, Marcus chuckled deeply. “Well. Looks like Daniel is going down for federal wire fraud, too. This is almost too easy.”
“Greed always destroys itself,” I murmured, watching the woman who had tried to ruin me destroy the man she claimed to love.
An hour later, Daniel was brought into a separate interrogation room.
He looked entirely broken. The arrogant, slick CEO was gone. He was pale, sweating, and shaking.
Detective Reynolds allowed me to step into the room.
When Daniel saw me—with my fierce new haircut, wearing a crimson suit, radiating absolute authority—he physically recoiled. He didn't even recognize the woman he had married.
“Emily...” he choked out, tears streaming down his face. “Please. I’ve lost the company. I’ve lost my money. Don't let them send me to prison. We were married for seven years. Doesn't that mean anything to you?”
I walked slowly over to the metal table. I leaned down, looking directly into his terrified eyes.
“Seven years,” I said softly. “I gave you seven years of loyalty, love, and grace. And you threw it away for a girl who just traded you to the District Attorney to save her own skin.”
Daniel’s breath hitched. “She... she turned on me?”
“She gave them the offshore accounts, Daniel,” I whispered.
He let out a hollow, agonizing sob, realizing he was completely, utterly trapped.
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“You had five minutes, Daniel,” I said, standing up tall. “Now, you have five to ten years.”
I turned my back on him and walked out of the room, leaving him to drown in his own ruins.
