Chapter 8 - The Sinking Ship

Rosie froze, her jaw slack, her chest heaving under her cashmere coat. "He... he what?"
I pulled a crisp, printed document from the inside pocket of my coat and shoved it into her chest. She grabbed it instinctively, her eyes darting across the legal header: *CRESTVIEW HOLDINGS LLC – ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION*.
"Look at the signature line on page four, Rosie," I said, walking up the front steps toward my front door. "Look at the notary stamp."
She flipped the page with trembling, manicured fingers. Her eyes widened in horror.
"That’s... that’s my signature," she stammered, shaking her head violently. "I never signed this! I’ve never heard of Crestview Holdings!"
"Julian has a power of attorney you signed three years ago when you bought the Hamptons property," I explained, turning on the top step to look down at her. "He used it to register you as the sole managing director of an entity that just received four million dollars in stolen corporate escrow. When the Southern District files wire fraud charges by the end of the week, the indictment won't have Julian’s name on the top line. It’ll have yours."
"No!" Rosie shrieked, clutching her throat. "No, he wouldn't do that to me! He loves me! I’m his wife! He bought me everything!"
"He bought you everything with stolen money, Rosie. And the moment the audit team walked in, do you know what he told me in the lobby?" I leaned over the wrought-iron railing, letting the words hit her like physical blows. "He said you were an insatiable leech. He said you spent eighty thousand dollars a month, and that if you wanted the penthouse, you had to bear the prison time."
"You're lying!" she wailed, though the sheer terror in her eyes proved she knew I wasn't. Julian was a predator, and predators always feed their companions to the wolves first when cornered. "You're just trying to tear us apart because nobody loves you! Because Dad loved me more!"
"Dad didn't love you more, Rosie," I said, unlocking the heavy mahogany front door. "Dad pitied you. Because he knew that without someone to carry you, you’d drown in an inch of water. And speaking of carrying you... ask Mom about the seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars she wired to Julian last Thursday."
Rosie blinked, completely derailed. "Mom? Mom doesn't have seven hundred thousand dollars! Mom’s surviving on Julian’s family allowance!"
"Go home to your Hamptons estate before the bank puts padlocks on the gates, Rosie," I said coldly. "Ask Mom yourself. And while you're at it, ask Julian why his passport was reissued with an expedited Schengen visa three days ago. He’s not planning on staying around to hold your hand in court."
I stepped inside and slammed the door shut, locking the deadbolts.
May you like
Through the heavy wood, I heard Rosie let out a ragged, unhinged scream of betrayal before the sharp clatter of her heels hurried down the sidewalk.
***