Chapter 7 - The Collapse
The trap was sprung at 7:00 AM the following morning.
Bennett never even made it to the airport.
Armed with the flight itineraries Victoria had provided and the undeniable proof of corporate embezzlement, Miriam had made an emergency call to the authorities and the board of directors at Bennett's firm.
Corporate fraud on that massive scale wasn't something the police took lightly, especially when the suspect was identified as an active flight risk.
I wasn't there to see it happen, but Miriam got the full report from her contacts.
Bennett was pulled out of the TSA security line at Dulles International Airport.
He had his passport in one pocket and a briefcase containing physical gold and bearer bonds in the other.
He was handcuffed in front of hundreds of travelers, his tailored suit rumpled, his arrogant composure completely shattered.
Later that afternoon, the news broke in the financial sector.
A senior executive arrested for embezzling millions.
His accounts were instantly frozen.
His reputation was incinerated in a matter of hours.
I sat in my kitchen, sipping a cup of hot tea, watching the local news ticker at the bottom of the screen flash his name.
BENNETT CRAWFORD ARRESTED ON MULTIPLE COUNTS OF WIRE FRAUD.
There was no joy in my heart.
No vicious satisfaction.
Just a profound, overwhelming sense of relief.
The heavy, suffocating shadow that had covered my life for the past month was finally lifting.
My phone rang. It was an unknown number, but I had a feeling I knew who it was.
"Hello?"
"Tessa."
Bennett's voice sounded hollow, defeated, echoing off the concrete walls of whatever holding cell he was permitted to call from.
"Why are you calling me, Bennett?"
"They denied my bail," he said, his voice trembling. "They took everything. My accounts are frozen. My lawyer dropped me. I... I have nothing."
"You made your choices," I said evenly.
"Tessa, please. You have to help me. I'm your husband. I'm Maya's father."
The audacity of his words made me laugh. A sharp, humorless sound.
"You aren't Maya's father," I reminded him. "You explicitly told me you wouldn't sign the paperwork, remember? Legally, you are nothing to her. And soon, you will be nothing to me."
"Tessa—"
"Goodbye, Bennett."
I hung up the phone and blocked the number.
I walked upstairs to the nursery.
Maya was awake in her crib, waving her tiny fists in the air, her dark eyes tracking a butterfly mobile spinning gently above her.
I reached down and lifted her into my arms, pressing her soft cheek against mine.
"It's just you and me now, little bird," I whispered to her. "And we are going to be just fine."
May you like
The storm he had brought into our lives was over.
It was time to clean up the wreckage and build something new.
