Chapter 2
The police car drove off from Benedict Holdings, but my head remained in the moment Desmond looked away.
I had looked for him in the crowd, hoping up until the moment I saw him that he would step up, say something, fight for
- me.
But he hadn’t.
Instead, he had walked away.
My husband. The man who had promised to love and protect me was abandoning me to drown.
I swallowed past the growing panic in my throat. It was all a misunderstanding. It had to be.
Desmond wasn’t speaking to the press at this point–it’s possible he was already working behind the scenes to resolve this. Perhaps he was trying to understand what was happening. Maybe he-
Stop.
I forced myself to breathe.
If that was true, why hadn’t he come to me? Why hadn’t he made eye contact as they took me away?
How come all of a sudden I felt so alone?
I looked at the officer beside me, my voice sharper. “I have the right to legal counsel. I need to call my lawyer.”
The officer didn’t even look at me. “No calls.”
I clenched my fists. “Then I want to know where you’re taking me. Aren’t I being questioned?” Am I going to a holding cell?
Silence.
The car rolled forward.
I breathed out, trying to keep calm.
It’s protocol. They also needed to interrogate me first. That was the process, right? I had not been convicted of anything. I was the Chief Financial Auditor of Benedict Holdings, not some little petty thief.
I could clear this up.
I clutched my hands over my lap, attempting to steady the tremor in my fingers. Everything would be fine.
Then the car slowed.
My stomach lurched.
We weren’t in an interrogation room.
We were at the courthouse.
No.
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3:01 pm D D
Chapter 2
A cloud of fear crashed over me.
This wasn’t right. This wasn’t normal,
This was too fast. Too organized. Too planned.
My throat tightened, Who arranged this?
1 recalled Miranda’s voice from the morning
Could it be… her?
No. Impossible.
Miranda was mean, but she wasn’t powerful enough to do something like this.
Was she?
The car door opened, and before I could even think another thought, I was pulled along.
The instant I walked through the door I knew that I was stepping into a trap.
Whispers hung in the air thick as the mist, sneaking in and out of the rows of people.
Every seat was filled. The gallery rattled with disapproving stares, quiet murmurs.
I scanned the crowd, my heart clinching.
I knew no one.
Not a single familiar face.
Jenna wasn’t here. None of my colleagues. No one from my department.
It was like in one night, my whole world disappeared.
A stranger came up to me. “Mrs. Benedict, I’m your lawyer for today.”
1 stiffened. What?
“My attorney is-”
“You’ve been appointed new counsel,” he interrupted smoothly. “Let’s take our seats.”
Assigned?
I turned cold. This was a setup.
I settled, my heart pounding as the judge walked in.
The trial began.
The prosecutor shot up to his feet.
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3:01 pm
Chapter 2
No hesitation. No fumbling with papers
He was prepared.
Too prepared.
“With this, it is not a case of accidental mismanagement,” he said, his voice smooth, polished. This is corporate robbery at its best.”
I tensed when forged documents popped up on the screen.
My name. My signature. My betrayal.
A cold sweat coated my palms. I never signed those.
Offshore accounts were next
Millions of dollars, linked to me.
I turned to my lawyer, my voice like a whisper. “Say something. Defend me.”
He adjusted his tie. Didn’t even look at me.
Oh my God.
They weren’t just out to destroy me.
They’d already made up their mind that I was guilty.
Then the doors at the rear of the tourtroom swung open.
Desmond’s parents walked in.
Miranda and Harold Benedict.
I went ice cold.
I was right. It was them.
I gritted my teeth as Miranda sat down behind the prosecution, her timing impeccable.
I should have known.
I should have expected this.
But then I caught sight of Harold’s face.
And my stomach dropped.
He wasn’t gloating.
He looked… uncomfortable. Uncertain.
A queasy pit formed in my chest.
This wasn’t them.
3/8
Chapter 2
Which meant…
Aly breath hitched.
Was it Desmond?
“Desmond Benedict, please.”
I froze.
The doors opened again.
And my husband walked in.
Desmond.
My breath caught.
What was he doing here?
He sat down, took the oath, and then turned toward the jury and his eyes welled up.
“I never wanted this,” he started, his voice choked with emotion. “Fiona was my wife. My partner. I trusted her completely.”
I flinched.
What was he doing?
Desmond drew a sharp breath, his shoulders convulsing. “When I initially saw the missing funds I couldn’t believe it. I figured there must be some mistake. But then the evidence just kept mounting. I confronted Fiona – “he turned to face me, his voice choking “and she denied everything.”
Lies.
Desmond swallowed, his eyes blinking back tears.
“I was devastated.”
The jury ate it up.
Some even managed a pitying glance at me.
I wanted to scream.
To shatter the illusion.
But Desmond wasn’t done.
“I pleaded with her to give me the truth. To admit her mistakes.” He let out a shaky breath. “But she just… refused.”
No. No, no, no.
Then arrived the final knifing in the back.
Desmond glanced over at the judge.
4/8
3:01 pm DDDD
Chapter 2
“But still… I love her. His voice cracked. “That’s why I’m dropping the charges.”
A wave of astonishment spread through the room.
The judge’s gavel struck. Case dismissed.
Not because I was innocent.
But since Desmond had ‘forgiven‘ me.
Humiliation washed over me like a tidal wave.
Not only had he framed me.
He had portrayed himself as the merciful, heartbroken husband.
I was ruined.
–
I emerged from the courthouse in a daze.
Then just as I started for the steps, a shadow fell beside me.
A cold, familiar voice.
“Go home, Fiona.”
I froze.
Miranda Benedict stood before her with a look frozen from ice.
And then, she smirked.
“There’s something special coming for you.”
But just as I was turning away, I noticed movement in the crowd.
My pulse stilled.
Hiding in the back behind all the chaos….
Was my real lawyer.
Watching.
And doing nothing.
1-
I had little memory of the drive home.
The courthouse, the cameras, the whispers.
Desmond was all I could think about.
5/8
་་
3:01 pm
Chapter 2
His winning face on the witness stand. The crack in his voice. How beautifully he played the role of the shattered husband.
But none of it made sense.
He had to be lying. He had to.
He loved me. He was protecting me. Wasn’t he?
The instant the car rolled up the long, twisted driveway of our estate, I ripped the door open before the driver even hit the brakes. I rushed toward the grand entrance, my heels clicking against the pavement, my heart racing.
He would explain everything.
He had to.
I burst through the front door and shouted. “Desmond!”
Silence.
Then, my breath hitched.
At the bottom of the grand staircase next to the main entrance were my suitcases, stacked neatly.
Packed. Waiting.
A sick sweat crept down my back.
No.
1 took a step closer, my heart racing.
And that’s when I saw them.
Desmond leaning against the fireplace, hands in his pockets, face flat.
To his right, she propped herself on the arm of the leather couch young, wearing a silk dress that seemed to cling to her like liquid gold.
She didn’t look nervous.
She wasn’t afraid.
She was smirking
The kind of smirk a woman gives when she knows she’s already won.
My stomach twisted.
“Desmond,” I murmured, my voice barely under control. “What’s going on?”
He didn’t answer.
The woman leaned forward, tilting her head, as if examining me.
“Hmm. She’s prettier than I thought she was.”
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Chapter 2
1 stiffened.
Who the hell was she?
She turned, raising her impeccably manicured fingers to trace Desmond’s jacket’s edge.
Desmond didn’t stop her.
Didn’t move.
Didn’t even look at me.
The woman’s lips curled. “You must consider yourself lucky, Mrs. Benedict.”
My fists clenched. “Who are you?”
She laughed lightly to herself. “Desmond didn’t tell you?”
She turned to face me fully, gleaming with triumph in her eyes.
“I’m Vanessa.” She smiled. “His fiancée.”
The words hit me like a slap.
Fiancée?
I gave a short, winded laugh. “You’re lying.”
“She’s not,” Desmond said.
His voice was calm. Detached.
Like I was nothing.
The world tilted beneath me.
This was a nightmare.
A cruel, twisted joke.
I took a shaky step forward. “Desmond, you have to tell me this isn’t real. Tell me you didn’t-”
“She’s the real deal,” Vanessa cut in smoothly.
I turned as she reached into her purse and took out a check.
She snapped it through her fingers, then threw it at my feet.
The paper drifted earthward, face–up.
One million dollars.
Vanessa smiled. “For all your trouble.”
I stared at it.
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E
3:01 pm DDDD
Chapter 2
At the inked numbers. The swirling signature.
My nails sunk into my palms as my fingers curled at my sides.
I looked to Desmond, my voice trembling. “I was this to you?”
Finally, he looked at me.
And for half a second, something flared in his eye.
But then, it was gone.
Gently, he said, “I told you you shouldn’t work.” “You should’ve listened.”
Before I could contemplate the sheer cruelty of his words, footsteps approached behind me.
Security.
Two men in black suits.
They didn’t have to say a word.
I knew why they were here.
Vanessa shot me one final amused look, but then she turned her body away, slipping sideways on to the couch as if it were where she had always belonged.
I turned to Desmond. “Are you really going to do this?”
He held my gaze. Didn’t flinch.
“Take the money,” he said, low. “And disappear.”
I reached down, shaking with nervousness, and picked up the check.
I didn’t want it.
But I took it anyway.
Desmond turned away from me as the security guards seized my arms and pulled me toward the door.
And just like that I was erased.
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