Chapter 7: The Interrogation Room
The air in the federal interrogation room was cold, smelling faintly of cheap disinfectant and stale coffee.
Dominic Sterling sat rigidly in a metal chair bolted to the floor, his hands cuffed loosely to a metal loop in the center of the table. The harsh fluorescent lights overhead buzzed faintly, casting an unforgiving glare over his pale, sweat-slicked face.
Across from him sat Agent Vance and a younger investigator named Miller.
"Let’s go over this one more time, Mr. Sterling," Agent Vance said calmly, flipping open a thick manila folder filled with financial statements, wire transfer receipts, and corporate bylaws. "According to our preliminary findings, Davis Pharmaceuticals—the company run by your father-in-law, Richard Davis—has been systematically siphoning funds through a network of shell companies based in the Cayman Islands over the last four years."
Dominic shook his head frantically, his voice cracking with panic. "I don't know anything about that! I'm just the regional sales director for the Northeast division! I handle client accounts, I don't touch corporate finances!"
"Really?" Agent Vance raised an eyebrow, sliding a single sheet of paper across the metal table. "Then how do you explain the fifty thousand dollar monthly deposit entering your personal savings account from an offshore entity called Apex Holdings?"
Dominic stared down at the paper. The color drained entirely from his face.
"That... that was a consulting bonus," Dominic stammered, his tongue feeling like sandpaper. "Richard... Mr. Davis set that up for me when I closed the Henderson contract two years ago!"
"A consulting bonus from a shell company currently under investigation for international money laundering and tax fraud," Miller added smoothly, tapping his pen against the table. "That’s not a bonus, Mr. Sterling. That’s a kickback. And under federal law, receiving kickbacks from a fraudulent enterprise makes you an active co-conspirator."
"No! No, wait!" Dominic slammed his bound hands against the table, rattling the metal chains. "You don't understand! I didn't know where the money was coming from! Richard just told me to sign some paperwork when I married Chloe! He said it was standard family business structuring!"
"Ignorance of the law isn't a legal defense, Dominic," a cold, familiar voice echoed from the doorway of the interrogation room.
Dominic snapped his head toward the entrance.
The heavy metal door swung open, and a man in an immaculate dark suit walked into the room. It wasn't a federal agent. It was Arthur Vance.
Arthur stopped beside Agent Vance’s chair, looking down at Dominic with an expression of absolute, clinical detachment.
"A-Arthur?" Dominic choked out, his eyes wide with sheer terror. "What are you doing here? This is a federal facility!"
"It’s a federal facility utilizing evidence compiled by Vance Global’s corporate intelligence division," Arthur corrected calmly. "Mr. Sterling, you spent three years treating my employer's daughter like garbage. You watched your family humiliate her, insult her, and ultimately assault her in public."
Arthur leaned down slightly, resting his palms on the table and bringing his face close to Dominic’s.
"Did you really think the Vance family would just let you walk away with a slap on the wrist?"
Dominic trembled violently, his chest heaving as the terrifying realization of who his wife actually was fully settled into his brain. Vance Global wasn't just a wealthy real estate firm. They were a corporate juggernaut with tentacles reaching into every corner of the legal, financial, and political landscape of the country.
"Vivienne..." Dominic whispered, tears finally spilling over his eyelids. "She... she didn't tell me. She never said a word about who her family was!"
"She didn't have to," Arthur replied coldly. "You showed her who you were every single day through your actions. And now, you get to live with the consequences."
May you like
Agent Vance tapped the table twice. "Take him back to holding. We have a preliminary hearing with the magistrate judge at nine o'clock tomorrow morning."
As the guards grabbed Dominic by the shoulders and yanked him out of his chair, Dominic let out a ragged, desperate sob—realizing too late that his ambition, his arrogance, and his cowardice had just cost him his freedom, his career, and his entire future
