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My husband and my sister laughed while my daughter Holly was dying in a hospital bed. Then he smirked and said, “Holly had a good run. We need that money for my son with your sister.” I slapped him across the face and made one phone call that destroyed them both. / Chapter 6 / 10

Chapter 6 - The ScrambleWhile I spent the remainder of the night in peaceful vigilance beside my daughter, the real-world consequences of Derek’s greed were crashing down around him with catastrophic speed.

At 7:00 AM, Derek woke up in the spare bedroom of the downtown apartment—the same apartment he had been leasing for Vanessa behind my back. His head throbbed from a restless night of cheap whiskey and paralyzing anxiety.

He rolled out of bed, grabbed his phone from the nightstand, and tapped the screen to check his balance, desperately hoping the frozen accounts were just a glitch in the mobile banking app.

Instead, a bold red pop-up glared back at him: Access Denied. Account Closed. Please Contact Administrator.

“Damn it!” Derek muttered, tossing the phone onto the bed.

He walked into the small, modern kitchen where Vanessa was sitting at the breakfast counter, wrapped in a silk robe, staring blankly at a cup of cold coffee. Her eyes were swollen from crying, her hair tangled.

“Did you talk to your lawyer?” Vanessa asked sharply the second she saw him.

“My lawyer won't even take my call,” Derek snapped, running a hand through his unwashed hair. “His assistant said our retainer agreement was terminated because my primary funding source was flagged for federal audit. Vanessa, we are in serious trouble. Calvin Rhodes didn't just freeze our accounts—he initiated a full forensic asset recovery. They’re coming after everything.”

Vanessa slammed her coffee mug down, the ceramic cracking against the granite countertop. “Everything? What about my car? What about the baby’s nursery furniture we ordered on credit?”

“Maxed out,” Derek yelled, losing his temper. “Every credit card I own was declined five minutes ago when I tried to order breakfast! My corporate badge is deactivated. Vanguard Properties security wouldn't even let me past the lobby parking gate this morning!”

Panic, sharp and suffocating, filled the small kitchen. They had built their entire illicit romance on the premise of wealth, power, and easy comfort. Derek loved the idea of being a high-rolling executive, and Vanessa loved the idea of stepping into my shoes and taking over the life I had built.

Now, stripped of the shield of my family’s money, they were staring face-to-face with their own utter incompetence.

“You have to call Marissa,” Vanessa hissed, grabbing Derek’s arm. “Beg her! Play on her sympathy! Remind her that we’re family!”

Derek let out a harsh, bitter laugh. “Family? Did you see the look in her eyes last night, Vanessa? She looked at me like I was a cockroach. She’s not going to negotiate. That old bastard Calvin Rhodes has her completely convinced she’s Joan of Arc.”

“Then what do we do?” Vanessa whimpered, sliding down the kitchen stool until she was sitting on the floor, holding her swollen stomach. “We have no money, no jobs, and a baby arriving in two months. We can’t even pay the rent on this place!”

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Derek stared down at her, and for the first time, Vanessa saw the true nature of the man she had betrayed her sister for. There was no love in his eyes—only cold, calculating self-preservation.

“I’ll figure something out,” Derek muttered, turning away to search his jacket pockets for loose change.

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