Chapter 8 - Chloe’s Betrayal
Julian whipped his head around, looking at Henderson, his attorney. "Henderson! Do something! This is harassment!"
Henderson raised his hands defensively, stepping back from the table. "Julian, this is a federal criminal warrant. My retainer only covers civil estate advisory. I cannot intervene."
"Who gave you this warrant?" Julian screamed at the agents as one of the officers took his wrist and clicked a pair of cold steel handcuffs around it. "This is an internal family dispute! There is no fraud!"
From behind the two federal agents, a familiar figure stepped into the doorway.
Chloe Reynolds was dressed in an understated grey pantsuit, her blonde hair pulled back into a severe ponytail, devoid of any makeup or jewelry. In her hand, she held an official legal folio labeled *Cooperation Agreement and Proffer of Evidence.*
Julian stopped struggling. He stared at his mistress as if she were a ghost. "Chloe? What... what are you doing here?"
Chloe didn't look at him with love or remorse. She looked at him with the cold calculation of a survivor throwing dead weight off a sinking raft.
"I signed the proffer at eight o'clock this morning, Julian," Chloe said, her voice steady and clear. "I turned over your encrypted hard drives, your offshore private banking keys, and the voice recordings of our phone calls from Maui."
"You... you traitorous whore!" Julian lunged toward her, but the two officers tackled him against the mahogany conference table, forcing his chest flat against the polished wood. "I gave you everything! I paid for your entire life!"
"You made me the fall guy for your felony tax fraud," Chloe spat, taking a step closer. "You prepared an affidavit blaming me for embezzling the money from your mother’s foundation. Clara sent me the draft last night. You were planning to hand me over to the feds the second Eleanor died so you could walk away clean!"
"I was saving us!" Julian choked out, his cheek pressed hard against the wood.
"You were saving yourself," Chloe said bitterly. "Agent Miller offered me full immunity in exchange for state’s evidence and my complete testimony against you. Eleanor had already done ninety percent of the work before she passed. All I had to do was fill in the dates and the passcodes."
I stood up from my chair and walked slowly toward the door. As I passed Julian, who was groaning under the weight of the arresting officers, I paused.
"Your mother left instructions for your personal belongings," I said, looking down at his disheveled hair. "Two suitcases of your clothes have been delivered to the city homeless shelter. The rest of your assets are frozen under federal receivership."
"Clara! Clara, please!" he sobbed, his arrogance completely evaporating into pathetic, snot-dripping terror. "Don't let them take me! Please! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!"
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The federal agents hauled him to his feet and marched him out of the conference room. His screams echoed down the long marble corridor of the firm until the elevator doors slid shut, cutting him off from the world he thought he owned.
***
