Chapter 4 - Interrogation Under Glass
The stark, windowless interrogation room at the federal field office smelled of cheap coffee and old paper. The single overhead fluorescent light hummed a high-pitched, maddening tune.
Victoria sat at the stainless-steel table, her designer blouse wrinkled, her hair slipping loose from its elegant chignon. The haughty veneer she wore like armor had begun to crack under the relentless weight of federal indictments.
The heavy steel door swung open, and Julian walked in. He wasn't wearing a tuxedo now; he wore a sharp, midnight-blue suit, his hands tucked casually into his pockets. He pulled out the chair opposite her and sat down, studying her the way a scientist might study a particularly repulsive specimen under a microscope.
"Why are you here?" Victoria spat, her voice raspy. "Where is my attorney? This is harassment."
"Your attorney is currently reviewing three hundred pages of financial indictments and realizing that cooperating with the prosecution is the only way you avoid spending the next twenty years in a maximum-security federal penitentiary," Julian said smoothly.
Victoria scoffed, leaning back in her chair despite the handcuffs chaining her wrists to the metal loop on the table. "You think a jury is going to believe a bitter husband over a grieving wife? I can spin this, Julian. I’ll tell them you were abusive, that you staged the security footage, that you manipulated your mother into silence."
Julian leaned forward, resting his forearms on the cold steel table. The absolute calm in his eyes made Victoria’s breath hitch.
"You really still think you're the smartest person in the room, don't you?" Julian asked quietly. "Let me tell you a story, Victoria. Three months ago, my mother's primary care physician called me with an anomaly in her bloodwork. Small traces of a neuro-inhibitor—just enough to keep her muscles sluggish, just enough to mimic a slower recovery from her stroke."
Victoria's face lost what little color it had left.
"I didn't call the police then," Julian continued, his voice dropping an octave. "Because cops need probable cause, and judges need ironclad proof. So I let you play your game. I watched you move money into offshore accounts in the Caymans. I watched you disable the call buttons in her room, thinking you were being clever. Every single action you took to isolate her was routed through our smart-home network—a network that I designed, engineered, and programmed myself."
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Victoria stared at him, her lips trembling. "You... you engineered the network trap?"
"From day one," Julian said, standing up and buttoning his jacket. "Enjoy your stay here, Victoria. The board meeting is on Tuesday. And by the time you see a courtroom, there won't be a single asset left to your name."
