Chapter 10 – Brenda's Last Gamble
Andrew answered without speaking.
For several seconds, all he heard was hurried breathing on the other end of the line.
Then Brenda's voice came through, shaky and desperate.
"Andrew... you have to help me."
He closed his eyes.
Three days ago, she had vanished with nearly eight hundred thousand dollars.
Now she was asking for help.
"What do you want?"
"I've made a mistake."
A bitter laugh escaped him.
"A mistake?"
"You emptied my account."
"You disappeared."
"You left me to face everything alone."
Brenda began crying.
"I didn't know it would get this bad."
Andrew's voice turned cold.
"You knew exactly what you were doing."
"No!"
"Margaret said we'd be protected."
The words stopped him.
"...My mother?"
Brenda hesitated.
Then she realized she had already said too much.
"Andrew..."
"Tell me."
Silence.
Finally, Brenda whispered,
"The necklace..."
"It was Margaret's idea."
Andrew gripped the phone tighter.
"I already know."
"And the money?"
Another long pause.
"She told me to move it before Mariana took control."
Andrew's heart sank.
"So the two of you planned everything."
"We were scared!"
"You said Mariana would never fight back!"
Brenda's voice cracked.
"Margaret kept saying she was weak."
Andrew looked toward the window.
Weak.
That was the word they had all used.
Yet Mariana had dismantled everything they built without raising her voice once.
Thousands of miles away...
Brenda sat alone in a luxury hotel overlooking the Caribbean Sea.
She had imagined champagne.
Freedom.
A new beginning.
Instead, two plainclothes investigators were standing in the hotel lobby below.
She had seen them asking questions at the front desk.
They were looking for her.
Her hands shook as she zipped another suitcase.
"I need money," she whispered into the phone.
"Please."
Andrew laughed.
Not cruelly.
Just sadly.
"I don't have any."
"What?"
"My accounts are frozen."
"My company is gone."
"My house isn't mine."
"My cars are gone."
"And the woman I destroyed..."
"...owned all of it."
Brenda stopped packing.
"What are you talking about?"
"Mariana Escalante."
"She owns everything."
The silence on the line lasted nearly ten seconds.
Then Brenda whispered,
"No..."
Andrew's voice remained empty.
"Yes."
"We both underestimated her."
At that exact moment, there was a knock at Brenda's hotel room door.
Three firm knocks.
She froze.
Another knock.
"Ms. Brenda Collins?"
"This is the Financial Crimes Division."
"We have a warrant to search the premises."
Brenda's face turned white.
She backed away from the door.
The balcony.
She looked toward the ocean.
It was twelve stories down.
There was nowhere to run.
Across the city, Mariana sat beside her father's hospital bed as he slept peacefully.
Jonathan entered quietly.
"They found Brenda."
Mariana nodded.
"I expected they would."
"She'll likely cooperate."
Jonathan placed another file on the bedside table.
"Our investigators believe she has enough evidence to expose everyone involved."
Mariana didn't even open it.
"Let the law do its job."
Jonathan studied her for a moment.
"You could destroy them yourself."
She looked at her sleeping father before answering.
"No."
"I've spent too many years cleaning up their mistakes."
She stood and walked to the window.
"Now they can face the consequences without my help."
Jonathan's phone vibrated.
He glanced at the screen.
His expression changed immediately.
"Ms. Escalante..."
"What is it?"
"The court just approved your emergency petition."
Mariana turned.
"The mansion..."
Jonathan smiled faintly.
"...must be vacated within forty-eight hours."
Across town, Margaret Whitmore was hosting what she believed would be one last elegant luncheon for her closest socialite friends.
May you like
She had no idea that before dessert was served...
Federal marshals would arrive at her front door with an eviction order—and cameras from every major news network would already be waiting outside.
