Chapter 6 - The Shattered FacadeJulian stared at my rounded stomach as if looking at a ghost. His eyes darted from my face to my swollen belly, his brain visibly struggling to process the biological impossibility staring him in the face.
For six years, he had convinced himself—and me—that I was barren. He had used my perceived infertility as the ultimate moral justification for his betrayal, his abandonment, and his financial cruelty.
"You're... you're pregnant," Julian stammered, taking another step onto the gravel. "How? That’s impossible. The clinic reports... everything we tested said—"
"That you were lying, Julian," a deep, calm voice interrupted from the doorway.
Garrison stepped out onto the porch. He was wearing a simple flannel shirt and jeans, his silver hair catching the sunlight, his posture radiating the quiet, immovable authority of a man who had stared down armed criminals without blinking. He didn't rush; he walked slowly down the steps, stopping two feet away from Julian.
Julian flinched, recognizing the man he had sneered at as the "lonely former sheriff." But as Julian looked closer into Garrison’s piercing silver eyes, something shifted in his expression. The arrogance drained out of him, replaced by a sudden, creeping unease.
"What do you have to do with this, Blackwood?" Julian demanded, trying to puff out his chest, though his voice shook. "This is a private matter between me and my ex-wife."
"Ex-wife?" Garrison raised an eyebrow, a cold smile touching his lips. "Strange. According to the expedited annulment and asset-recovery filings my attorneys submitted this morning, your marriage to Chloe was legally voided due to systemic fraud, fraudulent concealment of medical records, and corporate embezzlement."
Julian’s face went completely white. The color drained from his skin until he looked like curdled milk. "Fraud? Embezzlement? What are you talking about?"
"I’m talking about the four million dollars you siphoned out of Pinnacle Enterprises into offshore accounts to fund your lifestyle and your new girlfriend," Garrison said smoothly, pulling a folded document from his shirt pocket and letting it dangle casually from his fingers. "And I’m talking about the federal audit that landed on the CEO’s desk an hour ago."
Julian staggered backward as if he had been physically struck. "You... you audited me? Who the hell are you? You’re just a retired small-town cop!"
At that exact moment, the sound of a heavy helicopter chopping through the sky echoed over Cedar Hollow.
Julian looked up, startled.
May you like
A sleek, black medical transport chopper bearing the crest of the Boston Elite Medical Center descended gracefully, kicking up dust from the grass, and settled right in the empty field beside Garrison’s barn.
The cabin door slid open, and Dr. Aaron Vance stepped down onto the grass, wearing a crisp bespoke suit, flanked by two armed federal marshals in plain clothes.
