Chapter 8 - The Exposure
Adrian pulled a thin leather tablet from his coat pocket, tapping the screen twice before turning it toward Evelyn.
Displayed on the screen was an official Interpol notification and a financial freeze order dated three months earlier.
"Julian Vance didn't blackmail you, Evelyn," Adrian said, his tone dead, devoid of any anger, which made it far more terrifying. "Julian Vance was your lover."
Evelyn's face drained of all color. She stumbled back a step, her hands dropping to her sides.
"I've had a private intelligence team tracking Julian Vance's accounts since two days after you vanished," Adrian continued, stepping toward her with slow, deliberate authority. "On the night before our wedding, twelve million dollars was transferred from Julian's Swiss bank account into a shell company registered under your name in Belize."
I gasped, holding my hand over my heart.
"You didn't run to save our father, Evelyn," Adrian said, his eyes burning into hers. "You sold Julian Vance access to Vale Industries' master security codes so he could execute a hostile short-sell on our European stock. You traded my company's integrity and your family's future for twelve million dollars and a villa in Portugal."
"No..." Evelyn whimpered, shaking her head frantically. "No, Adrian, that's not... he forced me to sign those papers—"
"Julian Vance signed a full confession to the federal prosecutor in London four hours ago," Adrian cut her off, his voice echoing off the stone walls like thunder. "In exchange for a plea deal, he gave them six months of encrypted text messages between the two of you. Including the message where you told him that marrying me was 'a boring chore' and that you couldn't wait to watch Vale Industries crumble."
I felt nauseous.
My sister—the girl I had spent my entire life protecting, the sister whose disappearance I had mourned, the sister whose debts I had married a stranger to pay—had sold us all out for money.
Evelyn looked at Adrian, realized the lie was dead, and her face transformed.
The desperate, tearful victim disappeared. In her place was the bitter, sharp, entitled woman I had seen glimpses of throughout my childhood.
"So what?" Evelyn spat, her voice turning mean and sharp. "You were boring, Adrian! You treated me like an asset on a balance sheet! You didn't love me! You just wanted a pretty wife to show off at your stupid galas!"
She spun around, glaring at me with pure venom.
"And you!" Evelyn sneered at me. "Little Claire! The good doctor! You couldn't wait to jump into my bed the second I left, could you? You always wanted my life! You always wanted everything that belonged to me!"
"I didn't want your life, Evelyn," I said, my voice shaking with a mixture of heartbreak and fierce anger. "I took your mess because our father was going to lose his mind, mother was going to lose her house, and eight hundred people were going to lose their jobs. I married Adrian to fix what you broke."
"Oh, please!" Evelyn laughed bitterly. "You married him because he's a billionaire! Don't play the martyr with me!"
"That's enough," Adrian barked.
He walked past her, opening the heavy front door once more.
Outside, two sleek black SUVs had pulled up the driveway, their headlights cutting through the heavy snow. Four uniformed security guards stepped out into the storm.
"Your bag is on the floor, Evelyn," Adrian said, pointing toward the open door. "Samuel Price is waiting in the lead vehicle. He will escort you to the federal holding facility in Providence, where you will remain until the federal prosecutors interview you tomorrow morning."
Evelyn stared at the guards outside, her eyes wide with sudden, genuine terror.
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"You're arresting me?" she gasped. "Adrian... I'm your fiancée!"
"You were my mistake," Adrian corrected her coldly. "Claire is my wife. Now get out of my house."
