"You are nothing without my family’s name, Victoria!" my cheating husband shrieked right before his own father violently slapped the arrogance off his face. I stood there, cold and unbothered in my white suit, watching him bleed, knowing the feds were already waiting downstairs to arrest him for the secret ten-million-dollar fraud I just exposed.

The federal metropolitan detention center in Brooklyn was a stark, depressing concrete monolith. It was a far cry from the glittering penthouses and luxury yachts Eric Langston had spent his entire life occupying.

Because of my status as the primary complaining witness in the civil RICO suit, my legal team had secured a private, glass-walled visitation room to conduct a formal deposition with Vanessa Cole, who had been arrested twenty-four hours after the FBI raids.

I sat at the metal table, my seven-month-pregnant belly resting comfortably against the edge. I wore an elegant, cream-colored maternity coat, my hair styled in a flawless chignon, looking every bit the wealthy, powerful woman Vanessa had tried so hard to destroy.

The door opened, and a female guard led Vanessa inside.

I almost didn't recognize her. Her usual glittering designer wear had been replaced by a coarse, oversized orange jumpsuit. Her hair was greasy and unwashed, her face pale and entirely devoid of makeup, revealing deep, dark circles of exhaustion and terror under her eyes. She looked small, fragile, and utterly broken.

She sat down across from me, her hands trembling as she looked at the glass partition.

"You look beautiful, Vanessa," I said, my voice carrying a quiet, lethal sweetness. "Orange is definitely your color."

"You did this to me," Vanessa hissed, her voice cracking as she tried to maintain a shred of her former arrogance. "You set me up, Elena. I was just an employee. I didn't know anything about the offshore accounts!"

"Really?" I asked, sliding a document across the table. "Because according to the digital signature logs from AeroGlobal, you personally authorized the transfer of twelve million dollars from the New York school district’s construction fund into Eric’s private account in Zurich. And you did it using my forged signature."

Vanessa stared at the document, the color completely draining from her face.

"Eric told me it was legal!" she cried, her composure finally breaking into a flurry of desperate tears. "He told me it was just a corporate loophole! He said we were going to get married, Elena! He promised me we would move to Switzerland and buy a villa on Lake Geneva!"

"Eric is a sociopath, Vanessa," I said, leaning forward, looking her dead in the eyes. "He doesn't love you. He doesn't love anyone. He used you as a shield, just like he tried to use me. The moment the FBI started asking questions, he told them you were the mastermind behind the forgery."

"What?!" Vanessa gasped, her eyes widening in horror. "No... no, he wouldn't do that!"

"He already did," Diana Vance said, stepping forward from the corner of the room. "We’ve reviewed his initial interview transcripts with the federal prosecutors. He is claiming that you acted alone, that you stole his wife’s digital signatures, and that you embezzled the funds without his knowledge. He is offering to cooperate with the government in exchange for a lighter sentence. He is putting all the blame on you, Vanessa."

"The bastard!" Vanessa screamed, slamming her hands against the metal table. "I ruined my life for him! I helped him plan the gala! I was the one who suggested tearing her dress to make her look crazy! He wanted the baby to die, Elena! He told me if you had a miscarriage, the divorce would be a slam dunk!"

"I know," I said, my voice dropping to a quiet, cold whisper. "And that is why you are going to prison for a very long time, Vanessa. Unless..."

Vanessa looked up, her face filled with a sudden, desperate hope. "Unless what?"

"Unless you sign this affidavit," Diana said, placing a legal document in front of her. "It is a full, detailed confession of the conspiracy to commit fraud, the forgery of Mrs. Langston’s signatures, and the physical assault at the gala, executed under the direct instruction of Eric Langston."

Vanessa snatched the pen from Diana’s hand, her fingers shaking so violently she could barely hold it.

"I’ll sign it," she sobbed, scribbling her name at the bottom of the page. "I’ll tell them everything. I’ll make sure he rots in a cell next to mine."

As we walked out of the visitation room, Gabriel was waiting for me in the hallway. He wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me close against his side.