Chapter 5 - Interrogation and Fallout
Two days later, in the sterile, fluorescent-lit interrogation room of the federal detention facility, Vanessa Sterling-Moss looked nothing like the glamorous socialite who had sneered at me from the altar.
Her hair was unwashed and pulled back into a messy bun. Her orange jumpsuit hung loosely over her frame, and the designer makeup was entirely gone, revealing dark, exhausted circles beneath her swollen eyes.
When the heavy steel door clicked open and I walked into the room alone, Vanessa’s head snapped up.
For a second, fury flared in her eyes. Then, realizing she had no leverage left, her expression crumpled into pathetic desperation.
“Chloe!” she cried, stumbling forward until the bolted metal table stopped her. She slammed her cuffed hands onto the steel surface. “You have to help me! You’re my sister! They’re talking about twenty years in a federal penitentiary! You can call your husband, you can talk to that NCIS agent—tell them it was a mistake!”
I pulled out the metal chair opposite her and sat down smoothly, folding my hands on the table.
“It wasn't a mistake, Vanessa,” I said calmly. “You knowingly sold encrypted naval logistics data to a shell corporation tied to foreign operatives. That isn't corporate embezzlement. That’s treason.”
“I was framed!” she shrieked, tears spilling over her lashes. “Richard made me do it! He needed liquidity for his real estate investments, and he pushed me into signing those contracts!”
“Richard is currently in cell block B down the hall, singing like a canary and blaming every transaction on your signature,” I replied without missing a beat. “Don't try to shift the blame, Vanessa. You always believed you were untouchable because Dad covered for you, and because you thought I was too insignificant to notice what you were doing behind the scenes.”
Vanessa choked back a sob, staring at me with a mixture of hatred and sheer incomprehension.
“How?” she whispered hoarsely. “How did you know? You were just... you were just the quiet one. You worked as a low-level auditor!”
“I was never a low-level auditor, Vanessa,” I said, leaning forward so she could see the cold, unyielding resolve in my eyes. “I spent seven years as a senior financial intelligence analyst for federal contractors. I chose to work at Sterling Logistics undercover because our grandmother suspected someone was bleeding the company dry from the inside. When she passed away, she left her controlling shares to me—not to Dad, and certainly not to you.”
Vanessa’s jaw dropped. The floor beneath her feet seemed to vanish.
“The trust...” she breathed. “The entire empire... it was always yours?”
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“It is now,” I stood up, smoothing down my blazer. “Dad is stepping down as CEO due to failing health, and the board has unanimously voted me in as the new majority shareholder and chief executive officer. Sterling Logistics is going to survive, Vanessa. But you won't be part of it.”
As I turned toward the heavy metal door, Vanessa screamed my name, but I didn't look back. The past was dead, and the door locked securely behind me.
