Chapter 17 - Thieves Falling OutAdrian took a panicked step backward. “You cannot arrest me based on manipulated footage!”
“We also have sworn testimony from Captain Owen Mercer,” Agent Bennett said.
Adrian turned toward the door as though expecting Owen to appear and save him.
“You paid him to disable the yacht’s official cameras,” Bennett continued relentlessly. “He accepted the wire transfer under instruction from law enforcement and recorded all of your communications.”
Celeste moved farther away from Adrian, pressing her back against the wall. Adrian noticed the abandonment.
“Do not,” he warned her, his voice venomous.
She raised both hands in surrender to the agents. “I didn’t know he would actually do it! I thought it was just talk!”
Adrian’s face twisted in pure rage. “You planned every single detail with me!”
“No! You said she couldn’t swim. You said she would be unconscious before she hit the water!”
A collective gasp passed through the boardroom. Celeste realized a second too late what she had just admitted out loud.
Adrian turned on her like a cornered animal. “You were the one who wanted her gone! You said you would not spend another year being treated like an administrative employee!”
“You told me you loved me!”
“You loved the money!” Adrian spat.
“And you loved pretending it was yours!”
Their carefully constructed partnership collapsed with remarkable, pathetic speed. They loudly accused each other of creating the insurance policy, arranging the false medical file, stealing the jewelry, and forging the proxy. Each screamed sentence only served to strengthen the federal case against both of them.
The agents approached with handcuffs. Adrian resisted when they reached for his arms.
“Helena,” he pleaded, looking at me. “Tell them to stop.”
I said nothing.
“You know me, Helena.”
“I thought I did.”
“We can fix this!”
“You left your pregnant wife in freezing water.”
The facade of authority completely disappeared. What remained was a terrified, small man. “I panicked! Celeste pressured me.”
Celeste shouted from across the room as an agent cuffed her, “You pushed her!”
Miriam placed a document on the table in front of him. “Under the terms of the prenuptial agreement, criminal misconduct and any deliberate attempt to harm the primary beneficiary result in immediate forfeiture of all marital claims. Your credentials are terminated. Your accounts are frozen. You leave with nothing.”
Adrian stared at the papers, devastated. The agents led him toward the door.
May you like
Before he left, my father spoke one final time. “You came into my company with talent, Adrian. I would have helped you build a life of your own. Instead, you decided that stealing another person’s life was easier.”
The doors closed behind him.
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