Chapter 5 - The Hidden Ledger
I stood in front of the judge holding a completely dead, useless piece of glass and metal.
Barrett looked at me with an expression of overwhelming, manufactured pity.
"Your Honor, it pains me to say this, but I formally request that my wife be committed to a psychiatric facility for her own safety," Barrett said softly.
He sounded like a genuinely broken man trying to save the woman he loved.
Judge Lawson looked at me with deep sorrow and slowly reached for her heavy wooden gavel.
She was actually going to lock me away in an asylum and give him everything.
"Please, Your Honor, I beg you to let me cross-examine my husband on the stand for just ten minutes," I pleaded frantically.
Douglas immediately jumped up to object, but the judge held up her hand.
"I will allow ten minutes, Mrs. O'Connell, and then I am issuing my final ruling," the judge declared firmly.
Barrett confidently walked up to the witness stand and swore his oath.
He looked at me with a smug, arrogant challenge in his dark eyes.
"Barrett, why did you open a shadow corporate account in the Cayman Islands three years ago?" I asked loudly.
His confident facade instantly shattered into a million pieces.
He physically flinched, gripping the wooden rail of the witness box so hard his knuckles turned white.
"I have no idea what you are talking about," he stammered, sweat suddenly forming on his forehead.
"I am talking about the account where you have been laundering illegal money for the Sinaloa cartel," I stated clearly for the court record.
The entire courtroom erupted into chaotic, deafening gasps.
"I found the hidden physical ledger in your home office safe last night," I revealed, reaching for my heavy leather briefcase.
Judge Lawson leaned over her bench, her eyes wide with shock.
"Bring that ledger to my bench immediately, Mrs. O'Connell," she ordered.
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Before I could unbuckle the leather straps of my bag, the courtroom doors flew open with tremendous force.
A highly armed tactical team of FBI agents aggressively marched down the center aisle.
