Chapter 4 - The Gilded Prison Collapses
The next morning,
the corporate offices of Vanguard Logistics were swarming with federal agents and local police.
I sat in the boardroom,
surrounded by the board of directors who had been summoned for an emergency meeting.
Justin walked in,
still wearing the same suit from the day before,
looking disheveled and frantic.
“What is the meaning of this?”
he demanded,
slamming his briefcase on the table.
“Andrea,
why am I locked out of my own accounts?”
I stood up,
the encrypted drive in my hand,
and looked at the board members.
“Justin Dupont has been using company funds to facilitate a criminal conspiracy,”
I stated clearly.
“I have evidence of embezzlement,
medical privacy violations,
and attempted murder.”
Justin’s face went white,
a bead of sweat rolling down his forehead.
“You’re insane!
She’s hysterical because of the pregnancy!”
he shouted,
immediately regretting the slip of the tongue.
The board members murmured in shock,
realizing he had just admitted to knowing a secret I hadn't told him.
I played the recording of the chef from Miami for everyone to hear.
Then,
I projected the emails between him and Alyssa onto the large screen.
The room watched in silence as the plot to dispose of me and the baby was laid bare.
“Alyssa Sutton has already been taken into custody,”
I added,
my voice echoing in the large room.
“She started talking the moment the police showed her the offshore transfers.”
Justin tried to run for the door,
but Detective Miller was already standing there,
his handcuffs gleaming in the sunlight.
“Justin Dupont,
you’re under arrest for the attempted murder of Andrea Hanson,”
Miller said.
As they led him away,
Justin turned to me,
his eyes filled with a desperate,
ugly rage.
“My life is over!”
he screamed.
“You’ve ruined everything!”
“No,
Justin,”
I said,
walking toward him until we were inches apart.
“You ruined it the moment you thought I was just a wife who needed to learn her place.”
“I’m the woman who kept this company alive while you were playing house with your secretary.”
“And now,
I’m the woman who’s taking it away from you.”
Suzanne watched the news from her hospital bed,
her face twisted in a mixture of pain and realization.
She had spent her life trying to break me,
only to be nearly killed by the son she had raised to be a predator.
She realized that the “grateful wife” she had mocked was the only reason she was still breathing.
I walked out of the boardroom and into the hallway,
where my team was waiting.
They didn't see a victim;
they saw the Director of Operations.
May you like
And for the first time in months,
the air felt clean.
