Chapter 4 - The Secrets in the Vault
"Your father can't help you anymore, Vanessa," I said, stopping a few feet away from the boat’s boarding ramp.
From the shadows of the yacht’s upper deck, a woman stepped out. She was wearing a dark trench coat, holding a secure evidence briefcase. It was Deputy District Attorney Sarah Jenkins, a long-time ally from my days on the force.
"While you were busy planning this multi-million dollar party to humiliate Elena," Sarah said, stepping down the ramp, "federal agents were executing a simultaneous raid on Vale Holdings’ primary vault in Manhattan. Your father was arrested twenty minutes ago for laundering money for the East Coast shipping cartels."
Vanessa grabbed the railing to keep from collapsing. "No... no, that’s impossible. We are protected."
"You were protected because no one could tie the shell companies to the main accounts," I explained, crossing my arms. "But in your obsession to frame me for theft, you used the exact same laundering route to transfer the 'stolen' funds into the dummy accounts we set up. You literally opened the front door to your family’s deepest, darkest secrets just to try and make me look like a thief."
The sound of police sirens echoed from the front of the beach club, their blue and red lights reflecting off the dark ocean waves.
Vanessa looked out at the water, then at me, the reality of her total ruin finally crashing down on her. The $2 million party, the high-society status, the pristine reputation—everything she had built her identity on was gone in a single night.
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"Why?" she whispered, her voice cracking with a mixture of tears and rage. "You were just a cop. A nobody from the lower districts. Daniel was supposed to marry someone of status. Someone like me!"
"Daniel married someone who would bleed for the people she loves," I replied softly. "You only know how to bleed people dry."
