Chapter 15 - The Trap is Sprung
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Three days later, Declan sat in a cold, fluorescent-lit interrogation room at the federal detention center. His suit had been replaced by a coarse grey jumpsuit. He looked gaunt, desperate, and completely broken.
The metal door opened. I walked in, wearing an ivory coat, carrying a single manila folder. I sat down across from him at the steel table.
Declan looked up, a faint, pathetic spark of hope lighting his sunken eyes.
"Maya..." he rasped, his voice hoarse. "You came. You still care... I knew you couldn't completely abandon me."
I opened the folder and slid a single document across the table.
"Sign it, Declan," I said flatly.
He looked at the paper. "What is this? A total relinquishment of all marital property and corporate rights?"
"It's your surrender," I answered. "If you sign this today, my legal team will request that the federal prosecutor refrain from seeking the maximum thirty-year sentence under the RICO indictment. You'll serve eight years."
"Eight years?!" Declan yelled, slamming his cuffed hands against the table. "My life will be ruined!"
"Your life was ruined the moment you picked up that golf club," I replied coldly. "If you don't sign, Natalie Brooks will hand over the Aegis Apex money-laundering files to the state prosecutor tomorrow morning. That carries a mandatory life sentence without parole."
Declan stared at the document, his body shaking violently. Tears dripped onto the white paper as he realized he had zero moves left on the board.
He picked up the pen with a trembling hand and signed his name at the bottom line.
"There," Declan wept, collapsing forward onto the table. "I signed it. You took everything from me, Maya. Are you satisfied?"
May you like
I stood up, sliding the signed document back into my folder.
"You gave me nothing, Declan," I said, looking down at him one last time. "I took back what was mine."
