That brings us back to the handcuffs, the flying papers, and the public humiliation.
Sitting in the stark, freezing interrogation room at the precinct, I stared at the metal table. Vance tossed a thick file in front of me.
"Four point two million," Vance said, dragging a chair out and sitting backward on it. "Laundered through a fake charity. Your charity, Evelyn. We raided your husband's office this morning. Guess what David told us? He said he found out about your little bribery scheme last week and was preparing to file for divorce because his conscience couldn't take it."
My stomach dropped. The smirk in the hallway. David hadn't just used me to hide the money. When he realized I had found the bank statements and might blow the whistle, he preemptively fed me to the wolves. He handed Vance the offshore accounts and painted himself as the heartbroken, innocent husband.
"He's lying," I said, my voice barely a whisper. "He set me up."
"Save it for the jury," Vance mocked. "You ruined my family for a paycheck. Now I'm going to ruin yours."
I was granted bail, but my life was effectively over. The news cycle tore me apart. "CROOKED GAVEL," the headlines screamed. My assets were frozen. My judicial license was suspended.
The worst part was Chloe. My daughter wouldn't answer my calls. When I finally drove to her apartment, she wouldn't even open the door. "Dad told me everything," she yelled through the wood, crying. "How could you steal from those people, Mom? Don't come back here."
I sat in my car outside her building and sobbed until my lungs burned. I had lost my career, my reputation, and my only child. I had nothing left to lose. And a woman with nothing left to lose is the most dangerous creature on earth.
I knew David. He was arrogant. He would never destroy the original documents proving his involvement; he would keep them as leverage just in case. I waited until 2 AM, when I knew David would be at his mistress's apartment—oh yes, I knew about her too—and I bypassed the security system of the home that used to be mine. I went straight to the basement, behind the wine cellar, to a wall safe I was never supposed to know about.