Chapter 16 - The Airport Intercept
Vanessa never got the chance to enjoy the penthouse or the twenty million dollars. The moment Daniel's cuffs clicked shut, the DA ordered a synchronized strike.
Two hours later, heavily armed officers intercepted Vanessa at the international terminal of the airport. She had realized Daniel wasn't answering his phone and panicked. When they stopped her at the boarding gate for a flight to the Cayman Islands, she was carrying a freshly forged passport, ninety thousand dollars in tightly bundled cash, and a velvet bag filled with expensive jewelry stolen directly from my personal safe.
The news broke before the sun went down. The media frenzy was absolute. The tragic, handsome CEO who had wept on television for his lost children was now a prime suspect in their brutal murder. News helicopters circled the lake house, the corporate headquarters, and the county jail.
Sitting in my lawyer's office the next morning, no longer pretending to be a broken patient, I watched the news anchors read the gruesome details of the insurance plot. They showed footage of Vanessa crying hysterically as she was shoved into the back of a police cruiser, her designer pearl dress wrinkled and stained.
"The state has frozen all of their assets," Marcus told me, pouring a cup of coffee. "Thomas, Vanessa's brother, has already requested a plea deal. He's terrified and ready to testify against both of them to save himself."
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"Good," I said, staring at Daniel's mugshot on the television screen. His arrogant smirk was completely gone, replaced by the hollow stare of a man who realized his life was over.
But a criminal conviction wasn't enough. I wanted the truth spoken where Daniel had humiliated me most. I wanted my company back.
