I came home two hours early and caught my fiancée beating our maid—but she froze when I told her every second had been recorded.

The door slammed shut, leaving me alone in the sterile room.

Arthur stood up, picking up his briefcase. "I'll prepare the plea documents for tomorrow morning, Daniel. Get some rest."

"Arthur," I said, without looking up.

He stopped at the door. "Yes?"

"You forgot one thing."

Arthur turned his head slightly. "And what is that?"

"Victoria didn't just hide her father's ledgers in my house," I said, raising my head to look him in the eye. "She hid her mother's personal diaries as well."

Arthur’s posture froze. For the first time, a flicker of genuine shock crossed his face.

"What are you talking about?" Arthur demanded.

"When I cracked that steel box with the paperweight, three leather binders fell out," I lied smoothly, watching his reaction carefully. "Two were financial ledgers. The third was a personal ledger belonging to Eleanor Sterling, dated 2018. It detailed every bribe paid to the state attorney's office during the port development scandal."

Arthur’s breath hitched. "That... that notebook was supposed to be destroyed five years ago."

"It wasn't destroyed," I said, leaning back in my chair, pressing my advantage. "Victoria kept it as collateral against her own father. She knew her family was dangerous, so she saved the one piece of evidence that could send Richard Sterling to prison forever."

In reality, there was no personal diary in that box. But I knew the Sterling family history well enough to know that Eleanor Sterling had been deeply involved in her husband's early corporate dealings before her sudden death six years ago.

"Where is it?" Arthur asked, his voice losing its calm composure.

"It wasn't on the phone, Arthur," I smiled coldly. "I had Mia carry a second physical package out of the house before the police arrived."

Arthur took two quick steps back toward the table. "You're lying. The police escorted her out."

"Check the security footage from the front porch again," I said with absolute confidence. "Mia was carrying a black leather tote bag when she walked out to the ambulance. The officers were so focused on Victoria and the broken box that nobody checked the maid's bag."

Arthur pulled out his phone, his fingers flying across the screen as he dialed a number franticly. "Richard... we have a problem."

Ten minutes later, the door to the interrogation room opened again.

Mia Carter walked in, accompanied by a young woman in a sharp grey business suit holding a legal briefcase.

"Mr. Vance," the young woman said, extending her hand. "My name is Evelyn Reed. I'm a senior prosecutor with the Federal Organized Crime Task Force."

I looked at Mia, who gave me a small, brave nod.

"Miss Carter came directly to our field office two hours ago," Prosecutor Reed explained, sitting down across from me. "She brought us the complete, unedited backup drives from your home server—including the files you routed through Zurich."

"And the forged indictment?" I asked.

"We've been investigating Richard Sterling's conglomerate for eighteen months," Reed revealed, opening her briefcase. "We knew he was using clean tech firms as shell vehicles, but we lacked the internal access logs connecting his personal bank accounts to the wire transfers. Your home security system captured Victoria explicitly detailing the entire framing operation on high-definition audio."

I let out a long, ragged breath, feeling an immense weight lift off my chest.

"So the indictment against me?"

"Void," Prosecutor Reed said firmly. "As of twenty minutes ago, a federal judge signed arrest warrants for Richard Sterling, Victoria Sterling, and your CFO, Arthur Pendelton, on charges of racketeering, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy."