Chapter 6 - The Unraveling of ValerieWhile Edward sat behind bars awaiting his preliminary arraignment, the collateral damage of his empire’s collapse was tearing through his personal life with surgical speed.
That afternoon, while Marcus and I were reviewing property deeds at my office, my cell phone buzzed with an incoming FaceTime request from an unknown number.
I looked at the screen. The caller ID displayed a local county detention center.
I pressed accept.
The screen flickered to life, revealing Valerie Monroe. Gone was the glamorous woman in the tight red dress who had smiled so brightly while dancing with Edward under the crystal chandeliers. In her place sat a frightened, tear-streaked woman wearing an orange holding-facility jumpsuit, her hair unbrushed and her eyes hollow with panic.
"Madison," she gasped, her voice trembling as she leaned close to the visitation monitor screen. "Please... you have to help me."
I rested my elbows on my desk, looking at her with an expression of icy indifference. "Help you, Valerie? Why on earth would I help you?"
"I didn't know!" she sobbed, wiping a tear from her cheek with the sleeve of her jumpsuit. "Edward told me his wife was cold, that you were divorcing him anyway, that his businesses were completely legitimate! He told me the shell accounts were just for tax restructuring! He used my name without telling me the full extent of what he was doing!"
"That’s fascinating," I replied smoothly. "Because according to the federal evidentiary package Marcus provided to the prosecutors, you personally signed three corporate authorization forms, accepted over eighty thousand dollars in luxury gifts purchased with embezzled client funds, and actively helped Edward conceal his offshore wire transfers."
Valerie recoiled as if she had been physically struck. "He promised me a future! He said we were going to move to Miami, that we’d leave all of this behind!"
"Men who build empires on forged signatures and stolen money don't build futures, Valerie," I said, my voice cutting through her hysterics like a scalpel. "They build traps. And you willingly walked right into the middle of his."
"Please... drop the charges, or tell your lawyers to intervene," she pleaded, her voice breaking into a ragged wail. "They’re talking about five to ten years for conspiracy to commit wire fraud! My entire life is ruined!"
"Your life isn't ruined, Valerie. It’s simply being audited," I said quietly. "You wanted a wealthy man without earning the wealth. You wanted the red dress, the champagne towers, and the luxury lifestyle on someone else’s balance sheet. Now, you get to experience the true cost of your choices."
I tapped the screen, disconnecting the video call instantly.
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The room fell silent once more. Marcus looked up from his laptop, shaking his head. "Cold, Madison. Absolutely clinical."
"No, Marcus," I said, standing up and walking over to the window to watch the Chicago traffic flow endlessly below. "That wasn't cold. That was justice."
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