Page 35 of Due Process
“Although your affair with my weasel of a husband is grounds enough, that’s not the misconduct I’m referring to... It’s the embezzling.”
In one final comedown of the gavel, I smacked the last remaining document on the table between us—the most incriminating.
“You’ve been a busy girl,Hilary Copeland.”
Her face drained of colour as her precious smug expression was completely wiped off.Huh.The gravity of her situation was finally sinking in.
I didn’t just use that name to fuck with her. That was one of her previous identities—one of many aliases she had used to cheat and scam in the past.
Daisy, my genius and diabolical best friend, only required a date of birth and the bribe of her favourite liquorice shipped overnight—which promptly got me the results I required.
The complete undoing of those two imbeciles.
“Not up for reading?” I teased. “Let me do it for you, then.”
I flipped through the thick stack of papers, filled with numbers and bank statements. When I found the highlighted figures, I cleared my throat. “Rottweiler Enterprises, $1.2 million…”—flip—“Feather Industries, $800,000 dollars…”—flip—“and your biggest job yet. Stella Financial Management, $1.9 million…”
Felix twitched back to life, colour dripping back into his gaunt face as if he had been resuscitated.
I kept going. “Ahh. There’s quite a few transactions here, Hilary.There’s even a consultation from theTransmissible Diseases Clinic,charged on the company card. What was that for?”
“Nononononono,” Felix hummed. I continued to ignore him.
Heather began to stutter. And just like her useless lover, she was unable to find the right words. “Pl-please.”
I tilted my head, pouting, perfecting that sympathetic pose. “I wouldn’t worry, honey. You might be facing a whole lot of charges, including wire fraud, theft and embezzlement,” I said, ticking each one off with a raised finger, “but you’re not alone. Since this time, you had an accomplice, right? And who better to conspire with than the CEO himself…”
Felix was practically convulsing at that point, but at least he managed to find his lost voice. “Stella. It’s not true. I love you. Ilove this company—” His voice broke on a sob. “Fuck, you have to believe me. You have to believe me.”
I looked down on him—my crumbled, empty husband—and felt nothing.Too late.
After all my scheming and carefully laid plans, I finally pressed that flashing red button and went nuclear.
I pushed forward on the edge of my seat, my eyes boring into his so he could not misinterpret what I had to say next.
“But those are just more lies, Felix. The transaction history is right here, in black and white. Multiple transactions sent to your mistress during your sordid love affair. You’ve been aiding and abetting wire fraud,dear husband. Investigations are underway, and there’s no escaping this.” My voice lowered, breathy and intimate. “And you calledmethe gold-digging whore?”
During our one-on-one moment, Heather thought she’d try to sneak out. Unfortunately for her, she wasn’t fast enough.
Felix roared—a painful, soul-crushing roar—then launched for her. He was a rabid beast, tackling her to the ground as he climbed on top of her. Not unlike previous encounters, I’d have bet. Then his hands were wrapped around her throat as broken sobs rattled from his chest, and high-pitched banshee cries came from hers.
“I hate you. I hate you. I hate you,” He ranted, blind in his grief and loss.
I leant back in my chair, watching on in curiosity as the door slammed open and security wrestled them apart.
Felix struggled, disturbed eyes pinning on me as he was getting dragged through the doorway. “STELLA! I love you. Please, IT’S NOT TRUE. STELLA JOHNSON!”
With solid legs and unshakable fortitude, I rose to my feet, my fuck-me stilettos infusing me with the height and strength of a giant.
And as if the devil himself supported my claim once more, all the noise seemed to lull, to lapse into silence for one solitary second for my words to be heard.
“I no longer go by that name,” I said. “You can now address me as Ms Foster.”
I let his screams and Heather’s cries soak my being, my bloodthirst finally fed and satiated for the first time in two months.
Everything soon settled, the air still and undisturbed, when Howard shuffled inside, closing the door behind him, bringing with it a certain finality.
He didn’t know the depth of my deception, but he knew of Felix’s betrayal, which was enough. He hesitantly approached, sporting a prideful expression.
