CHAPTER 4 — The Woman They Never Truly Knew
CHAPTER 4 — The Woman They Never Truly Knew
The boardroom fell into absolute silence.
Three federal investigators stood at the entrance, their dark suits immaculate, their expressions unreadable.
The lead investigator stepped forward.
"Mr. Andrew Collins?"
Andrew swallowed hard.
"I want my attorney."
"You'll have every opportunity to retain legal counsel," the investigator replied evenly. "At the moment, we need you to answer several questions."
Andrew glanced around the room.
Not a single board member spoke.
Not one person came to his defense.
The same executives who had applauded him at every annual meeting now avoided looking him in the eye.
His gaze finally landed on Mariana.
She remained calm.
She didn't look victorious.
She looked... disappointed.
That hurt far more than any celebration could have.
"You called them."
Andrew's voice was low.
Mariana shook her head.
"No."
Victor Hale stepped forward.
"The forensic audit automatically triggered the report."
Andrew turned sharply.
"What audit?"
Victor opened another folder.
"The audit you unknowingly approved last quarter."
Andrew frowned.
"I never approved an audit."
"You signed the compliance package."
"It was on page eighty-three."
Andrew froze.
He remembered.
Three months earlier, he'd signed a stack of documents without reading them.
Brenda had been waiting for him with dinner reservations.
He'd joked that lawyers existed to read contracts.
Now that careless signature had become the beginning of his downfall.
The lead investigator spoke again.
"We're not placing you under arrest today."
Andrew looked up hopefully.
"However..."
The investigator placed a thick envelope on the conference table.
"You are prohibited from transferring assets, contacting certain financial institutions, or leaving the country until this investigation concludes."
Andrew stared at the document.
Travel restrictions.
Asset restrictions.
Witness restrictions.
His world was shrinking by the minute.
Meanwhile...
Across town...
The Collins mansion had become a scene of controlled chaos.
Professional movers entered room after room carrying inventory tablets.
Each painting.
Each sculpture.
Each piece of jewelry.
Each antique.
Everything was photographed.
Cataloged.
Sealed.
Margaret followed them through the house, furious.
"You can't touch that!"
"It belonged to my grandmother!"
The inventory manager looked at his tablet.
"I'm sorry, ma'am."
"It was purchased six years ago through Collins Group corporate accounts."
Margaret's face reddened.
"No, it wasn't!"
The manager turned the screen toward her.
"There is the invoice."
"There is the payment record."
"There is the approval signature."
Margaret looked closer.
Andrew's signature.
Her confidence began to crack.
Upstairs...
Brenda hurried through the master bedroom stuffing designer handbags into expensive luggage.
She opened the walk-in closet.
Rows of luxury dresses.
Shoes.
Jewelry.
Everything she'd secretly imagined becoming hers.
Finally.
She smiled.
Then froze.
One of the attorneys appeared in the doorway.
"I'm afraid those items must remain here."
Brenda frowned.
"They're Mariana's."
"Correct."
"And?"
"They belong to Miss Escalante."
"So?"
"You are not Miss Escalante."
Brenda's smile disappeared.
"I'll just take my own things."
The attorney nodded politely.
"Of course."
Brenda opened another closet.
Silence.
She searched another drawer.
Nothing.
Another cabinet.
Empty.
She turned toward the attorney.
"My clothes..."
"They're gone."
The attorney checked his inventory.
"They were collected at three o'clock this morning."
Brenda blinked.
"What?"
"Miss Escalante instructed her staff to retrieve all personal belongings before sunrise."
Brenda stood speechless.
Mariana hadn't left in anger.
She had left with a plan.
Back at headquarters...
Andrew remained seated across from Mariana.
Neither of them spoke for nearly a minute.
Finally...
He asked the question that had haunted him all morning.
"When did you stop loving me?"
Mariana looked at him quietly.
"I didn't."
Andrew frowned.
"What?"
"I stopped trusting you."
She folded her hands.
"Love doesn't disappear overnight."
"It dies one broken promise at a time."
Andrew looked away.
Images flashed through his mind.
The anniversary dinner he canceled because Brenda "needed help."
The birthdays he forgot.
The nights Mariana waited alone.
The endless business trips.
The excuses.
The lies.
He'd always believed she would forgive him.
Because she always had.
"You could have left."
He whispered.
Mariana nodded.
"I almost did."
"When?"
"The first time I found Brenda's messages."
Andrew closed his eyes.
"You knew..."
"I knew everything."
"You never confronted me."
"No."
"Why?"
Mariana answered honestly.
"I hoped you would choose our marriage."
Instead...
He had chosen pride.
Victor interrupted gently.
"Miss Escalante."
She turned.
"The Zurich office is on the line."
"I'll take it in my office."
As Mariana stood, Andrew suddenly reached for her wrist.
"Please."
The room froze.
She looked down at his hand.
The same hand that had slapped her less than twelve hours earlier.
Andrew realized it too.
He slowly let go.
"I'm sorry."
It was the first sincere apology he'd spoken in years.
Mariana looked into his eyes.
For a brief second...
She saw the man she'd once fallen in love with.
Then she remembered the sound of the slap.
The laughter.
The command to kneel.
"I'm sure you are."
She walked away.
Without looking back.
An hour later...
Mariana entered the private office that had once belonged to her father.
Alejandro was waiting.
He had watched the entire confrontation through the security system.
"You still love him."
It wasn't a question.
Mariana didn't answer immediately.
Finally...
"I love the man he used to be."
Alejandro nodded slowly.
"And the man he became?"
She looked out the window.
"I don't recognize him."
Alejandro placed another folder on the desk.
"There is something else you need to know."
Mariana opened it.
Inside were private investigation reports.
Photographs.
Financial records.
Travel logs.
Her expression slowly changed.
"This..."
Alejandro sighed.
"I ordered the investigation six months ago."
"You investigated Andrew?"
"I investigated everyone who came near my daughter."
Mariana continued reading.
Hotel reservations.
Private villas.
Luxury vacations.
None of them had been paid for by Andrew.
Every expense...
Had been charged directly to Collins Group.
Corporate funds.
Her company.
Her money.
Supporting Andrew's affair.
Then she reached the final page.
A sonogram.
Mariana frowned.
"What is this?"
Alejandro's face darkened.
"Our investigators believe..."
He paused.
"Brenda may be pregnant."
The room suddenly felt colder.
Mariana stared silently at the image.
She wasn't shocked that Andrew had betrayed her.
She already knew that.
She wasn't shocked that he spent company money on Brenda.
She expected that too.
But this...
A child.
Everything became more complicated.
Victor entered hurriedly without knocking.
His normally calm expression had disappeared.
"Miss Escalante..."
"What happened?"
Victor looked at both of them.
"There has been... an unexpected development."
"What kind of development?"
"The investigators searched one of Brenda's private apartments."
Mariana stood.
"And?"
Victor took a slow breath.
"They found the missing emerald necklace."
Silence.
The necklace had never been stolen.
It had never left Brenda's possession.
Which meant...
The accusation.
The humiliation.
The slap.
Every moment from the previous night...
Had been built on a lie.
May you like
And someone had gone to extraordinary lengths to make sure Mariana took the blame.
End of Chapter 4
