Chapter 1 - The Trap Closes
The hospital room fell completely silent as the three-star general dropped his formal salute.
Mark stared at the beautiful woman he had just brought in to humiliate me.
His jaw practically hit the sterile hospital floor as she snapped to rigid attention.
"Sir," she repeated with a voice entirely devoid of emotion.
"I am Captain Elena Rostova, and I have been acting as Colonel Whitmore's undercover executive officer for the past six months."
Mark stumbled backward until his shoulders hit the heavy wooden door.
"Undercover?" he stammered, looking frantically between me, the general, and his supposed new girlfriend.
I sat up slowly in my hospital bed, ignoring the lingering pain from delivering my beautiful baby boy just hours ago.
"You thought I pushed paperwork, Mark," I said coldly.
"You also thought you were smart enough to hide your illegal offshore accounts from the Department of Defense."
Captain Rostova pulled a thick stack of printed photographs from her designer handbag and tossed them onto my lap.
They were high-resolution surveillance shots of Mark meeting with known foreign intelligence brokers.
"Your little romance with me was a federal sting operation," Rostova said with a razor-sharp smile.
"I gathered enough evidence to put you in federal prison for the rest of your miserable life."
The general handed me my promotion orders and a classified encrypted tablet.
"Colonel Whitmore, the military police are waiting in the hallway to take this traitor into custody," the general announced.
I looked at the man who had called me dead weight while I was in agonizing labor.
"Take him away," I ordered without a single ounce of pity.
Two heavily armed military police officers stepped into the room and grabbed Mark by his arms.
Instead of begging for mercy, a twisted and arrogant laugh erupted from Mark's throat.
"You think you won, Anna?" he sneered as the handcuffs clicked around his wrists.
"I found the paperwork for your secret twenty million dollar inheritance three days ago."
May you like
He leaned in close, his eyes burning with absolute malice.
"I already forged your signature, drained the entire trust fund, and transferred the money to an untraceable account."
