Chapter 6 - The Pawn’s BargainHook: “The only thing more dangerous than a betrayed wife is a husband who has nothing left to lose.”The visiting room at the Metropolitan Correctional Center was cold, smelling of industrial disinfectant and stale panic.
Nathan sat behind the thick acrylic glass, wearing an orange jumpsuit that made his pale skin look sickly gray. His hands were cuffed to a steel ring anchored to the stainless-steel table.
On the other side of the glass sat Evelyn.
"You came," Nathan rasped, his voice raw from days of endless interrogation. "Evelyn... please... you have to help me. The prosecutors are talking about twenty years. Twenty years, Evelyn! I'll die in here!"
"You probably will," Evelyn said calmly, her arms crossed over her pristine black wool coat. "Unless you do exactly what I tell you."
Nathan slammed his cuffed hands against the glass, making the guard in the corner shift uncomfortably. "I didn't do half of what they're charging me with! I stole money, yes! I cheated on you, yes! But I didn't set up those offshore accounts in Zurich! I don't even know what Aegis Holdings is!"
"I know," Evelyn said quietly.
Nathan stopped, blinking in shock. "You... you know?"
"You were setup, Nathan. By Richard Sterling. By my father's estate. You were brought in to be the fall guy for a multi-hundred-million-dollar fraud that started long before you ever knew my name."
Nathan’s jaw dropped. "Richard? Mr. Sterling? He... he’s the one who gave me the private banking codes! He told me it was a tax loophole for high-net-worth individuals!"
"He played you like a cheap violin," Evelyn said coldly. "And you were so blinded by greed, vanity, and Clara's flattery that you walked right into the trap."
Nathan lowered his head onto the steel table, sobbing silently. "I'm ruined, Evelyn. My name is trash. My life is over."
"It doesn't have to be," Evelyn said, leaning closer to the perforated metal speaker in the glass. "I have a deal for you, Nathan."
Nathan looked up, his tear-streaked face desperate. "Anything. I'll do anything."
"You are going to plead guilty to the tax evasion charges," Evelyn said, her voice dropping to a sharp, icy whisper. "In exchange, you will turn state's evidence against Richard Sterling. You will provide the grand jury with every email, every private directive, and every transaction code Richard ever gave you."
"If I turn on Richard, his people will ruin me in prison!" Nathan stammered.
"If you don't turn on Richard, I will ensure the federal prosecutors add ten counts of bank fraud that carry a mandatory minimum of thirty years," Evelyn replied without a trace of mercy. "Choice is yours, Nathan. Do twenty years in a minimum-security facility as a state witness, or rot in a federal penitentiary until you're seventy."
Nathan stared at her, realizing for the first time that the woman sitting across from him was infinitely more dangerous than any cartel boss or federal prosecutor.
"You planned this," Nathan whispered in horror. "From the night at Aurelia..."
"No," Evelyn corrected him, her eyes burning with pure, concentrated ambition. "At Aurelia, I was just a hurt wife who wanted to give you what you deserved. But now? Now I am taking back my family's legacy. And I will burn down anyone who stands in my way."
May you like
She stood up, pulling on her leather gloves.
"Sign the state's agreement by noon tomorrow, Nathan. Or buy yourself a long book list."
