Chapter 10 - The Ultimate Payback
The detective stared at us, waiting for an explanation about the missing millions.
I looked at Vanessa, but she shook her head, genuinely confused by the missing funds.
Elena suddenly let out a soft, beautiful laugh that echoed through the ruined dining room.
She reached into her designer handbag and pulled out a sleek, silver hard drive.
"The money isn't missing, Detective," Elena smiled brilliantly. "It is sitting safely in a secure escrow account under Chloe's name."
I gasped in shock, completely stunned by her incredible revelation.
Elena proudly explained that she used to work as a cybersecurity analyst before she met Ryan.
When we were searching Ryan's belongings earlier, she had quietly hacked his laptop and bypassed the offshore security walls.
She had legally transferred every single stolen penny back to my bank to completely clear my name.
Detective Harris smiled slightly, pretending he didn't hear her admit to international cyber hacking.
"I will have the bank verify the funds immediately," the detective said before walking away.
The nightmare was officially over, and the monster who tried to destroy us was finally locked in a cage.
Months later, Ryan was sentenced to forty-five years in a federal penitentiary without the possibility of parole.
Vanessa kept her job at the bank, having fully cooperated with the authorities to dismantle Ryan's financial network.
Elena and I sold the terrible house and used our returned wealth to open a successful cybersecurity firm together.
We became inseparable best friends, bonded forever by the fire we had walked through.
We toasted to our new, beautiful lives with expensive champagne on the balcony of our shared luxury penthouse.
The trauma of the past was finally behind us, and we were truly, incredibly free.
Then, the doorbell rang, leaving a plain black envelope sitting alone on the welcome mat.
May you like
Inside was a high-resolution photograph of Elena and me clinking our glasses, taken from the dark building across the street.
A handwritten note on the back of the photograph simply read: "Ryan was just a middleman, and now you both owe me."
