Turn the page and step into the next chapter of this unforgettable story.

-8

While Cordelia was left scrambling to find a modest apartment in the suburbs, the legal machinery targeting Garrick inside the county detention center was accelerating at a breathtaking pace.

Arthur Vance—realizing that loyalty to the Sterling name was a one-way ticket to a twenty-year federal prison sentence—had officially flipped. Operating through a court-appointed federal defender, Arthur delivered a comprehensive, sworn deposition to the U.S. Attorney's office that detailed every single offshore account, every forged corporate signature, and every shell company engineered by Garrick and Cordelia over the past decade.

On Friday morning, I met with Arthur's replacement, a sharp federal prosecutor named Assistant U.S. Attorney David Vance (no relation to Arthur, thankfully), in his high-rise office overlooking the federal plaza.

"The proffer session with Arthur Vance yielded a complete confession regarding the 1.4 million dollars funneled into Delphine Laurent’s boutique startup," David said, sliding a thick stack of green-highlighted transcript pages across his desk. "Garrick is staring at three counts of wire fraud, two counts of corporate tax evasion, and interstate conspiracy. His legal team has zero wiggle room."

I reviewed the summary pages, noting the specific financial tracing markers my forensic accountants had provided weeks prior. "And what about Delphine?" I asked.

"She's currently cooperating under a conditional immunity agreement, though her testimony is largely redundant since Arthur’s paperwork covers every paper trail," David replied, leaning back in his chair with a slight grin. "She's claiming Garrick coerced her into participating under false pretenses—classic blame-shifting. She'll likely face probation and heavy financial restitution, but the real prison time is squarely on your ex-husband."

"I don't care about Delphine, David," I said, sliding the transcripts back across the desk. "She was just a mercenary hired to do dirty work. Garrick and his mother were the architects. Make sure the prosecution doesn't offer a plea deal that lets them skate on the restitution payments."

David raised an eyebrow, clearly impressed by the cold, tactical efficiency of my directives. "You know, Marlowe... most people in your position, after going through a betrayal like that, would just want to take their settlement money and disappear to a beach in the Caribbean."