Chapter 5 - The Confession in the Interrogation Room
The interrogation room in the lower level of the federal building was stark, lit by a single overhead fluorescent tube that flickered with a maddening buzz. Julian Vance sat at the bolted-down metal table, his expensive dark suit wrinkled, his tie loosened to reveal a slick film of nervous sweat on his throat. The arrogance that had defined him just hours ago had dissolved into a frantic, twitchy desperation.
The heavy steel door creaked open, and Marcus Vance walked in, carrying a thick manila folder. He dropped it onto the table with a sharp thud, taking a seat directly across from Julian.
"I want my attorney," Julian snapped, his voice cracking slightly as he avoided looking directly into Marcus's intense blue eyes. "You have no right to hold me without a corporate injunction. This is a hostile harassment campaign!"
Marcus slowly leaned back, folding his arms across his dark police uniform chest. He didn't blink. He just stared at Julian with a quiet, terrifying intensity that made the corporate executive squirm in his chair.
"You can call a dozen corporate lawyers, Julian, but none of them are going to clear federal wire fraud charges tied directly to your offshore Cayman accounts," Marcus said, his voice dangerously calm. "Accounts you opened using forged signatures from Genevieve Berlinsky."
"Prove it," Julian snarled, though his left eye twitched uncontrollably. "Genevieve signed those documents voluntarily before she was committed. It’s all legally binding. The board approved every cent."
Marcus slid a single sheet of paper across the metal table. It was a certified bank statement, timestamped three days before Genevieve’s trial, detailing a multi-million-dollar wire transfer routed through a shell company registered under Chloe Sullivan’s maiden name.
Julian stared at the paper, his breath hitching. "Where... where did you get this?"
"From a safe that doesn't exist on corporate registries," Marcus replied smoothly. "A safe that Genevieve’s father set up decades ago as an insurance policy against corporate backstabbers like you, Julian. You thought you outsmarted the Berlinsky family by stealing their company, but you just walked right into a velvet trap."
Julian slammed his cuffed hands onto the table, half-rising from his chair before two armed guards stepped out of the shadows behind him, forcing him back down. "Who are you working for? Is it Chris? I thought old man Berlinsky was dead!"
"He's very much alive," Marcus whispered, leaning forward until his face was inches from Julian's. "And he wants his daughter back. Which brings us to your current predicament. You have two choices, Julian. You can take the fall alone, or you can sign a full confession implicating Chloe Sullivan as the primary architect of the frame-up, and maybe the federal prosecutor will shave five years off your inevitable twenty-year sentence."
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Julian’s eyes darted wildly around the room, the reality of his total ruin crashing down upon him like a tidal wave. He opened his mouth to speak, but before a single word could escape, the interrogation room door was violently kicked open by an agitated federal prosecutor, holding a breaking-news tablet flashing an unthinkable headline.
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