Chapter 13 - The Mask Falls
Bradley Vance slowly closed the manila folder, his fingers pressing into the paper with white-knuckled tension. He turned toward his client, his eyes sharp and unforgiving. "Chloe, did you disclose any third-party financial transactions to me during our initial intake consultation?"
Chloe’s voice was high, erratic, and stripped of all delicate innocence. "It was just consulting fees! Apex said the project was going to fail anyway! They told me Julian was going down, and that if I didn't protect myself, I’d be left with nothing when Claire divorced him!"
She turned her furious gaze toward Julian, tears of genuine rage streaming down her face. "You made me believe I was special! You took me to those expensive dinners in Soho, you listened to me talk about my dreams, and you looked at me like I was the only exciting thing in your pathetic, color-coded life! And then the moment the roof started leaking, you ran straight back to your precious mommy-wife! You used me to feel young, and then you tossed me into the street!"
Julian didn't flinch. He didn't raise his voice, nor did he hide behind legal jargon. He looked at her with an expression of profound, quiet sorrow—not pity for her, but grief for the foolish man he had once been.
"You're right about one thing, Chloe," Julian said, his baritone resonating through the tense air of the dressing room. "I was pathetic. I was an insecure coward who mistook your flattery for admiration because I didn't have the spine to carry the weight of real adulthood. I let you flatter my vanity, and that failure of character is entirely mine. I will carry the shame of that for the rest of my life. But you are not an innocent bystander. You knowingly signed off on cracked foundations that could have buried two hundred construction workers alive. You risked human lives for a quarter of a million dollars."
At that moment, the green room door swung open, and Veronica Cross walked in, wearing heavy broadcast makeup and holding an iPad. She surveyed the scene—the trembling girl on the sofa, the sweating defense attorney, and Julian and me standing shoulder-to-shoulder in complete, unbreakable alignment.
"We go live in five minutes, Chloe," Veronica said, her journalistic instincts immediately latching onto the palpable panic in the room. "Is there something we need to discuss before the broadcast?"
Bradley Vance cleared his throat, suddenly looking ten years older. "Ms. Cross, my client has decided to invoke her Fifth Amendment rights regarding the Riverside matter. We are withdrawing our participation from tonight’s episode effective immediately."
Veronica’s eyes widened with predatory curiosity. "Withdrawing? The teaser has three hundred thousand shares already. If you walk out that door, you leave the floor open for the other side."
I stepped forward, offering Veronica a polite, enigmatic smile that I had perfected during fourteen years of high-stakes corporate warfare. "Julian and I would be delighted to take the interview, Ms. Cross. We have brought comprehensive municipal documentation, verified bank ledgers, and the complete timeline of the Riverside investigation. We believe in complete transparency with the public."
Chloe let out a strangled gasp, grabbing her purse and pushing past Veronica into the hallway, fleeing the building with her lawyer trailing hurriedly behind her.
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Julian turned to look at me, a mixture of disbelief and awe softening his features. "Are you really going out there on live audio with me?"
"We built an empire together, Julian," I said, reaching up to adjust the lapel of his tailored jacket, letting my hand linger against his chest to feel the steady, reassuring thrum of his heartbeat. "And when someone tries to slander our name, we dismantle them together. Now let’s go set the record straight."
