Chapter 6 - The Trap Collapses
The audio echoed from the high-end sound system with horrifying clarity.
“Your father is an old man, Genevieve... He will never believe you over me... Keep your mouth shut, stay away from the hotel on Saturday... If you try to stop this marriage, you’ll lose everything.”
The video cut to black.
The ballroom was so quiet you could hear the ice melting in the champagne buckets.
Marcus Croft stood near Table One, his hands gripping the back of his chair so tightly his knuckles were white. His smooth, arrogant composure was completely shattered.
Evelyn stood near the dance floor, frozen like a statue, surrounded by one hundred and twenty pairs of staring, disgusted eyes.
“Thomas...” Evelyn whimpered, taking a trembling step back, her voice dropping into a desperate, fake sob. “Thomas, please... she provoked me... she was threatening to take you away from me...”
“Save it, Evelyn,” I said, my voice cold as ice.
I reached into my coat, pulled out her personal black leather notebook that I had taken from her handbag, and held it up for the entire room to see.
“This notebook,” I announced into the microphone, “contains the routing numbers for forty million dollars currently being stolen from the Vance Global Pension Fund.”
I turned my head slowly, pointing directly at Marcus Croft.
“Initiated by an IP address belonging to the Chairman of our Board of Directors—Marcus Croft.”
The room erupted into absolute bedlam.
Board members stood up, shouting at Croft. “Marcus! Is this true?!”
“What the hell is going on here?!” yelled Donald Vance, my younger brother and shareholder representative.
Croft’s eyes darted frantically around the room. He saw the tactical security guards blocking every door. He saw Arthur Pendelton standing near the media console with a team of lawyers. He realized in one terrifying second that there was no way out.
Croft shoved his chair back, pointed a finger at Evelyn, and snarled, “She set this up! She came to me six months ago with the plan! I had nothing to do with the wire transfers!”
“You bastard!” Evelyn screamed, dropping her delicate act entirely. She lunged across the dance floor toward Croft, her manicured nails reaching for his face. “You promised me fifty percent! You promised me the Cayman accounts!”
The four tactical guards stepped in instantly, catching Evelyn by her arms and restraining her before she could touch Croft. She fought against them, kicking her red silk dress, screaming profanities that made the guests draw back in terror.
At that moment, the heavy double doors at the rear of the ballroom opened once more.
This time, it wasn't my security team.
Six men in dark blue jackets with yellow letters emblazoned across the back walked into the room.
FBI.
Lead Special Agent Richard Vance—no relation to me, but an investigator I had known for ten years—walked down the center aisle, holding a federal arrest warrant in his gloved hand.
“Marcus Croft? Evelyn Reed?” Agent Vance announced, his voice booming over the chaos. “You are both under arrest for federal wire fraud, corporate embezzlement, and witness intimidation.”
Two agents stepped up to Croft, pulling his arms behind his back and snapping steel handcuffs around his wrists. Croft didn't say a word; his face was gray, his eyes hollow as he was led past the board members he had tried to betray.
Agent Vance walked up to Evelyn, who was still weeping and struggling against my guards.
“Evelyn Reed,” Agent Vance said coldly. “You have the right to remain silent.”
As the agents slapped the cuffs on her wrists, Evelyn turned her head, looking at me standing beside Genevieve.
“Thomas!” she shrieked, tears ruining her perfect makeup. “Thomas, help me! You loved me! You married me today!”
I looked down at her—the woman who had tried to steal my legacy, ruin my company, and destroy my child.
I took the gold wedding band off my left ring finger, held it up between two fingers, and let it drop into a crystal glass of champagne sitting on the nearest table.
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“The marriage is annulled, Evelyn,” I said softly.
She was dragged out of the ballroom, her screaming echoes fading down the carpeted hallway until the doors swung shut, leaving the room in profound, heavy silence.
