Chapter 7 - The Secret Mistress
While Ryan sat in a county jail cell, the legal machinery Dad had set in motion continued to tear Ryan’s carefully constructed empire apart brick by brick.
Later that afternoon, we met Marcus Sterling at Ryan’s downtown corporate office. The building was a sleek tower of dark glass and chrome. But on the fourteenth floor, the firm of *Holloway & Simmons Wealth Management* was already crawling with federal agents wearing windbreakers marked with gold letters.
Computers were being unplugged and loaded into foam-lined crates. File cabinets hung open like gaping mouths.
Standing by the corner office window, her arms crossed defensively, was Chloe Simmons. She was wearing a cream-colored silk blouse and high-heeled Louboutin shoes, but her hands were trembling so badly that the gold bangles on her wrists clinked together.
When she saw me walk in beside Dad and two federal marshals, her lips parted in shock.
"Claire?" she stammered. "What is the meaning of this? You can't just barge into private offices with federal agents! Ryan’s partners will have your heads for this!"
"Ryan doesn't have partners, Ms. Simmons," Dad said, stepping forward with a calm, predatory grace. "Ryan was using your corporate license to funnel embezzled money through twenty-six shell LLCs. And according to the search warrant we served on your penthouse this morning, you were an active, willing participant."
Chloe’s face turned gray. "What search warrant? You had no right—"
"The penthouse was bought with my mother’s trust money, Chloe," I said, stepping right up to her desk.
Up close, I saw the diamond necklace around her neck. It was a vintage Cartier piece featuring emerald clusters.
My mother's emerald necklace. The one Ryan had told me was 'lost' when our apartment was burglarized four years ago.
Before Chloe could react, I reached out and rested my fingers against the cool stones of the necklace. "Did he tell you where this came from? Did he tell you it belonged to a woman who died of cancer while her daughter was left to scrub his mother's toilet?"
Chloe backed away until she hit the panoramic glass window. "I didn't know... Ryan told me you were an estranged roommate from college who was mentally ill! He told me he was taking care of you out of charity!"
"You knew enough to sign the offshore transfer slips," Dad interjected, signaling to the federal marshals waiting by the door. "Chloe Simmons, you are under arrest for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering, and interstate transport of stolen property."
The marshals moved in swiftly. Within seconds, the emerald necklace was removed and placed inside an evidence bag, and Chloe’s designer-clad wrists were handcuffed behind her back.
As they led her toward the elevator, she looked at me with tear-streaked eyes. "Claire, please! Ryan made me do it! He said if I didn't help him hide the cash, he'd destroy me!"
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"You made your choice every time you put on my mother’s jewelry, Chloe," I said coldly as the elevator doors slid shut.
***
