Chapter 5 - THE MISTRESS’S PLEA
"Mara?"
her voice was shaking.
She didn't sound like a lioness anymore.
She sounded like a trapped animal.
"Why are you calling me,
Julianne?"
I asked,
my voice a calm river.
"The police are here,"
she whispered.
"They're at the penthouse.
They're saying the furniture was bought with stolen money."
"Is it?"
I asked.
"Adrian said...
he said it was his!"
"Adrian says a lot of things,"
I replied.
"He also says I'm fragile."
There was a long silence on the other end.
I could hear the muffled voices of officers in the background.
"What did you do?"
she gasped.
"I simply stopped being silent,"
I said.
"You should probably call your own lawyer,
Julianne.
If you have any money left to pay one."
I hung up.
The first crack had appeared.
Adrian would be getting the call any second now.
I walked to the library and put the silver key back on the desk.
I wanted him to see it.
I wanted him to know exactly how I had entered his secret world.
I wanted him to understand that the "safe" woman had been his judge all along.
The front door slammed open an hour later.
Adrian was drenched from the rain.
His face was a mask of fury and disbelief.
"What have you done?"
he roared.
He didn't look like a titan.
He looked like a man drowning.
I didn't stand up.
I didn't flinch.
"I've finalized the audit,
Adrian,"
I said.
"The board has removed you as CEO."
"The shell company has been frozen."
"And Julianne is currently being questioned."
He stepped toward me,
his hands shaking.
"You...
you destroyed me!
Everything I worked for!"
"You destroyed yourself,
Adrian,"
I corrected him.
"The moment you thought my love was a weakness to be exploited."
"The moment you thought I was too stupid to see the truth."
He laughed,
a jagged,
unstable sound.
"You have nothing!
I'll fight this!
I'll take everything from you!"
"No,
Adrian,"
I said,
sliding a folder across the coffee table.
May you like
"You'll take nothing."
"Because you never owned anything to begin with."
