Chapter 3 - The Frame Job
The cold steel handcuffs bit deeply into my wrists.
I sat in a dark, windowless interrogation room for four agonizing hours.
The lead detective finally threw a thick stack of printed financial documents onto the metal table in front of me.
The papers authorized the transfer of fifty million dollars from my company into a hostile shell corporation.
The signature at the bottom of the page was mine.
It was a completely flawless forgery, completely identical to my own handwriting.
Elena and Arthur had expertly framed me to take the fall for their massive theft.
I demanded my one phone call, my voice cracking from dehydration and pure exhaustion.
I dialed the private cell phone number of Sarah Vance, my ruthless corporate defense attorney.
Sarah promised she would have me out on bail before the sun came up.
I sat in the holding cell, counting the cracks in the cinderblock wall as the hours dragged on.
True to her word, Sarah arrived at dawn with a judge's signature and a very grim expression on her face.
She paid the exorbitant bail and rushed me out the back door of the precinct to avoid the waiting reporters.
We climbed into the back of her tinted luxury sedan.
I told Sarah we needed to get back to my house immediately to secure Maria and my son.
Sarah looked away from me, staring silently out the tinted window.
She finally turned back and told me my house had been completely ransacked during the night.
The front door was smashed, the security cameras were disabled, and the alarm system was destroyed.
My heart completely stopped beating as the terrible reality washed over me.
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Sarah placed a comforting hand on my shoulder and delivered the most devastating news of my life.
Maria and Leo were completely gone.
