CHAPTER 5
"Canceled?!" Adrian gasped, his breath hitching as his attorney slumped back into his chair in complete defeat. "On what grounds?!"
"On the grounds that the United States Attorney considers you an extreme flight risk due to your unauthorized offshore Panama accounts," Marcus explained smoothly. "Furthermore, federal prosecutors have added corporate sabotage and attempted murder to your official docket."
"Attempted murder?!" Adrian screamed, his face flushing red with wild, panic-driven rage. "I didn't try to kill her! She had a miscarriage! It was a medical issue!"
"You stood six feet away while she bled out on the floor, refused to call emergency services, and allowed your father to physically assault her," Agent Miller interjected sternly. "The high-definition security camera hidden in the dining room ceiling recorded every single second of it."
Adrian froze, his eyes widening in total horror as he remembered that I had personally installed the estate's high-tech security system two years ago.
He had completely forgotten that every room in the Beverly Hills mansion was connected directly to my encrypted private server, recording in uncompressed 4K video and audio.
"The video footage has already been handed over to the grand jury," Marcus added, leaning forward with a cold, victorious smile. "The entire country is going to watch you step over your dying wife to comfort your mistress."
Adrian collapsed back into his metal chair, burying his face in his trembling hands as loud, pathetic sobs began wracking his frame.
"She destroyed me..." Adrian wept, his voice muffled by his bloodless fingers. "She ruined everything..."
"No, Mr. Vale," Marcus corrected firmly, standing up to leave the interrogation cell. "You destroyed yourself the moment you mistook Claire Mercer's kindness for weakness."
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Outside the federal building, I sat in the rear of a sleek, bulletproof black SUV, watching the security feeds on my laptop with a quiet, unshakeable sense of victory.
The physical pain in my body was rapidly fading, replaced by a deep, soaring feeling of absolute freedom that I hadn't experienced in six long years.
