Chapter 6 - The Interrogation RoomThe interrogation room at the federal field office smelled of cold coffee, floor wax, and synthetic leather.
Grant sat across the stainless-steel table, his expensive cashmere coat discarded, his silk tie loosened, and his hair wildly out of place. He looked older, smaller, stripped of the arrogant armor he had worn for years.
"You didn't have to destroy me, Evelyn," Grant muttered, staring down at his cuffed hands resting on the metal table. "We could have handled a divorce quietly. We could have co-parented."
"Co-parented?" I asked, leaning back against the shadow of the one-way mirror, my arms crossed over my tactical jacket. "Grant, you let a stranger torture our five-year-old daughter while you sat downstairs drinking champagne. You tried to frame me as mentally unstable so you could steal my child and my life. Co-parenting requires a parent. You were just a parasite."
"Vanessa manipulated me," he whimpered, his voice cracking with pathetic desperation. "She told me you didn't care about us! She said you chose your job over your family!"
"And you believed her because it was easier than looking in the mirror and admitting you weren't man enough to stand by my side when things got difficult," I replied, my voice devoid of pity. "Every choice you made, Grant, was calculated. Every dollar you stole, every lie you told—it was all documented. The federal prosecutor isn't offering a plea deal. You're looking at a minimum of ten years in a federal penitentiary."
Grant buried his face in his cuffed hands, his shoulders shaking with genuine, helpless terror. But there were no tears for Lily. There were only tears for himself.
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"Please, Evelyn," he sobbed. "For the sake of the years we spent together... drop the charges."
"The years we spent together ended the moment I saw my daughter kneeling on a cold marble floor," I said, pushing off the wall and walking toward the heavy metal door. "Enjoy your new accommodations, Grant. They’re much colder than the Canadian border, but at least you’ll have plenty of time to think about what you lost."
