Chapter 4 - The Pen and the Sword
I arrived at my office at 9:55 a.m.
I had showered and changed in the back of the blue van,
putting on my most expensive suit.
I looked every bit the billionaire Alex Salazar again.
Rebecca was already in the conference room,
sitting next to a man in a gray suit who looked like a bored notary.
She jumped up when I entered,
throwing her arms around my neck.
"Alex!
You’re late!"
"I was starting to get nervous."
I kissed her cheek,
feeling a surge of revulsion.
"Just getting things in order,
darling,"
I said,
my voice smooth and steady.
"A big move like this requires a lot of paperwork."
I sat down at the head of the table.
The notary pushed a thick folder toward me.
"This is the transfer of the estate to the Alcott-Salazar Trust,"
he said,
his voice flat.
"And the signature for the joint management of the venture capital accounts."
Rebecca leaned in,
her eyes shining with greed.
"Once we do this,
everything is ours,
Alex."
"No more worries."
"No more stress."
I picked up the pen,
the gold weight of it familiar in my hand.
I looked at the signature line.
I looked at Rebecca.
She was smiling,
that perfect,
practiced smile that had fooled me for three years.
"You know,
Rebecca,"
I said,
playing with the pen.
"I met a friend of yours this morning."
The smile faltered,
just for a fraction of a second.
"A friend?
Who?"
"Lucy."
The silence that followed was absolute.
Rebecca’s face went from angelic to stony in an instant.
"I don't know what you’re talking about."
"She told me about the gray kitten,"
I continued,
leaning back in my chair.
"She told me about the cat food."
"And she told me about Marcus Thorne."
The notary suddenly reached for the inside of his jacket.
"Don't,"
I said,
my voice like a whip.
The door to the conference room burst open.
Six armed security guards,
led by Andrew,
flooded the room.
The notary was pinned to the table before he could draw his weapon.
Rebecca stood up,
her face twisted in rage.
"You think this stops anything?"
"I have your signatures on a dozen other documents,
Alex!"
"I have enough to tie you up in court for a decade!"
I held up the folder.
"You mean these?"
I ripped the papers in half.
"I didn't sign anything."
"And the accounts you thought you were joint-managing?"
"They’ve been frozen for forty-eight hours."
"But more importantly,"
"I have the recordings."
"I have Thorne’s confession from ten minutes ago."
"He’s already in custody,
Rebecca."
"And he was very eager to talk once he realized the money was gone."
Rebecca collapsed back into her chair,
the designer dress suddenly looking like a cheap costume.
"I loved you,"
she whispered,
a last-ditch effort at a lie.
"No,"
I said,
standing up.
"You loved number seven."
"But I’m not a number."
"And I’m definitely not yours."
I walked out of the room,
leaving the police to handle the rest.
The air in the hallway felt fresh,
clean,
and full of promise.
The wedding was cancelled.
May you like
The house was mine.
And the truth was finally free.
