Chapter 4 - The House of Cards Collapses
Wendy’s face turned a violent shade of purple. She pointed a trembling finger at me, choking on her own rage.
"Guards!" she screamed toward the door. "Throw this lunatic out of my building immediately!"
No one moved. Outside the glass walls of the boardroom, half a dozen corporate employees and two uniformed police officers stood watching, accompanied by Sarah Sterling.
"They won't be doing that, Wendy," I said smoothly, pulling out the chair directly opposite her and sitting down. I crossed my legs and placed a thick leather binder on the table. "In fact, according to the emergency injunction filed thirty minutes ago by my legal team, you, your eldest son Marcus, and my soon-to-be-ex-husband Luca have been temporarily suspended from all executive duties at Vance Logistics pending a federal audit."
Luca slammed his hands on the table, standing up so fast his chair crashed backward onto the floor.
"Jessi, have you lost your damn mind?!" Luca yelled, spittle flying from his lips. "You're destroying our family! You're destroying my career over a stupid misunderstanding! It was just a slap! Kids fall down and get hit all the time!"
I looked at him—my husband of four years, the man who had promised to protect me and our child, the coward who sat by while his mother threatened to silence a two-year-old.
"A misunderstanding," I repeated softly. I opened the binder and slid a stack of printed bank statements across the table toward him. "Is this a misunderstanding too, Luca? The fifty thousand dollars you funneled from the corporate charity fund last month into your offshore poker account?"
Luca’s face lost every drop of blood. He stared at the papers as if they were venomous snakes.
"H-How did you..." he whispered, his voice failing him.
"Did you really think I spent all those nights alone while you were 'working late'?" I asked, leaning forward, resting my elbows on the table. "While you and your mother treated me like a maid in my own home, I was reviewing the books. I found every hidden account, every falsified shipping manifest, and every bribe paid to local inspectors."
Wendy grabbed the edge of the table, her knuckles turning white. She glared at her son, then back at me. "You little sneak. You planned this."
"I survived it," I corrected her, standing up slowly. "And now, I’m finishing it."
Just then, the boardroom doors pushed open wider, and two police officers stepped inside, holding a pair of glittering silver handcuffs.
"Marcus Vance and Luca Vance," one officer announced loudly. "You are under arrest for corporate embezzlement, fraud, and obstruction of justice."
As the cuffs clicked onto Luca’s wrists, he looked at me with tears streaming down his face, whispering, *"Jessi... please..."*
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I didn't even look back as I walked out of the room.
***
