Chapter 5 - Unraveling the MistressWhile the corporate execution was being finalized on the forty-second floor, federal agents and my father’s security detail were paying a visit to the luxurious North Dallas penthouse apartment where Vanessa had been living on Adrian’s corporate dime.
According to the real-time operational feed streaming onto my tablet, Vanessa had attempted to flee the city at 4:00 AM, only to find her bank accounts frozen, her luxury sports car booted in the parking garage, and her private jet charter cancelled by federal aviation authorities.
By 11:30 AM, she was brought into the temporary interrogation suite we had set up on the thirty-fifth floor of the Vale building.
The door pushed open, and two operatives shoved Vanessa into the stark, windowless room. She stumbled, catching herself against the metal table. Her hair was a tangled mess, her designer clothes wrinkled, and the haughty, arrogant smirk that had graced her face while she watched me bleed was completely gone.
She looked up, seeing me sitting across the table with a cup of black coffee.
"Evelyn..." she breathed, her voice cracking with desperation. "Evelyn, please! You have to help me! Adrian lied to me! He told me his wife was a cold, distant roommate! He told me he was getting a divorce!"
I took a slow sip of my coffee, watching her through narrowed eyes.
"He told you I was weak, Vanessa," I corrected softly. "And you believed him because cruelty is easy when you think there are no consequences."
"I didn't know he was going to... to do what he did last night!" she sobbed, pressing her hands against the table. "I tried to tell him to stop after fifty lashes, but he wouldn't listen! He's a monster!"
"Oh, really?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "Is that why you were sipping champagne and correcting his count? Is that why you smirked every time the leather hit my skin?"
Vanessa froze, the color draining entirely from her face. She opened her mouth, but no words came out.
"My father's audio recorder captured every single word you said in that room, Vanessa," I continued, sliding a transcript across the table toward her. "Every lie you invented, every mocking comment, every instruction you gave him to humiliate me further. Under Texas law, instigating and participating in aggravated assault under torture carries a prison sentence of up to life."
Vanessa stared at the transcript, her lower lip trembling violently. She slumped down into the metal chair, burying her face in her hands and breaking into hysterical, broken sobs.
"I'll lose everything," she whispered. "My friends, my apartment, my life..."
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"You never had any of it, Vanessa," I said, standing up and smoothing my jacket. "You were just a temporary distraction playing dress-up in a life you didn't earn. And now, the bill has finally arrived."
I walked toward the door, leaving her alone in the stark, cold room with her nightmares.
