Chapter 12 - Vanessa’s Alibi Crumbles
Back at the county detention center, Vanessa Sterling was discovering that betrayal is a two-way street. Sitting in the stark, concrete visitation booth separated by thick plexiglass, she stared across the barrier not at her lawyer, nor at Daniel, but at her own brother, Julian Sterling.
Julian looked disheveled in his orange jumpsuit, his tailored legal suits replaced by standard prison issue. He slammed his palm against the glass, glaring at his sister with undisguised fury.
"You stupid, arrogant fool, Vanessa!" Julian shouted through the intercom speaker. "You said Elena was going to be completely incapacitated! You said the legal documents were airtight! Because of your botched hit job, the feds raided my office at three o'clock in the morning!"
Vanessa clutched the receiver with trembling hands, tears streaming down her hollow cheeks. "Julian, please! We didn't mean to hit her that hard! Daniel lost control! You have to help me, you're a lawyer!"
"I *was* a lawyer, Vanessa! Now I'm facing twenty years for federal wire fraud and accessory to attempted murder because you couldn't wait three days for the legal paperwork to process!" Julian spat back, his face contorted with rage. "I'm cutting a deal with federal prosecutors. I'm giving them everything—every shell corporation, every offshore transfer code, and every text message you and Daniel exchanged plotting Elena's murder."
Vanessa gasped, her knees nearly buckling as she leaned against the plexiglass. "Julian, no! If you do that, we'll die in here! We're family!"
"Family?" Julian let out a harsh, bitter laugh. "You traded our entire family name for a piece of Elena's empire and a cheating academic. Enjoy your cell, sis. I'm saving myself."
The speaker clicked off, and guards hauled Julian away, leaving Vanessa screaming in hysterics against the glass.
Behind the observation window of the holding annex, Marcus Hale and I watched the entire exchange unfold on a security monitor. Marcus crossed his arms, a faint smirk playing on his lips.
"Well, that solves our evidentiary problem," Marcus remarked. "Julian is officially turning state's witness against both of them. Their defense alliance has completely dissolved."
"It dissolved the moment pressure was applied," I replied quietly, watching Vanessa slump to the floor in defeat. "Greed always eats its own children, Marcus. But what about that phone call I received after the board meeting? The warning about Meridian Holdings not being Daniel's invention?"
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Marcus's expression darkened instantly. He tapped a few keys on his tablet, pulling up an encrypted data trace. "I traced that call, Elena. It didn't originate from inside the city. It came from an encrypted satellite relay registered offshore—specifically, from the Cayman Islands corporation that supposedly funded Meridian Holdings."
"So someone else is backing them," I said, my eyes narrowing. "Much deeper," Marcus replied grimly. "And whoever it is, they're watching every move we make.
