Marcus looked up at Arthur Vance in absolute terror. “My mother? My sister? They didn’t know anything about the money! They just spent it!”
“They accepted stolen corporate funds to purchase their luxury vehicles, their jewelry, and their real estate,” Arthur Vance said coldly. “Under federal law, that makes them co-conspirators. The police are at the maternity clinic right now to pick them up.”
On the tablet screen, Julianne leaned closer to the camera.
“Remember what I told you at the mediator’s table, Marcus? What was never really yours will always find its way back. You thought you stole my dignity, my happiness, and my future. But today, I took back everything. Enjoy the harvest of what you planted.”
She reached out and cut the feed. The screen went black.
Agent Miller stepped forward, pulling a pair of steel handcuffs from her belt. “Marcus Henderson, turn around and place your hands behind your back.”
Marcus complied mechanically, his body numb, his mind shattered. As the cold steel clicked around his wrists, his phone on the floor buzzed one last time. It was a panicked, screaming voicemail notification from his sister Roxanne.
Marcus managed to look down at the screen as the agent dragged him toward the elevator. The voicemail text-transcription read:
“Marcus! Help us! The police are here! They’re arresting Mom and me! But Marcus… that’s not the worst part. Penelope… Penelope just confessed to the officers. She didn’t just lie about the baby’s father. She… she said you were the one who—”
The elevator doors slammed shut, cutting off the signal, leaving Marcus in pitch blackness as the elevator began its descent into the abyss.
