Chapter 4 - The Golden Cage
The threat of federal exposure was the perfect leverage. By Thursday afternoon, Daniel was desperate. He had been released on bail, but his reputation was in tatters, and the local news was already running stories about the pregnant mistress crashing his wife's car.
My phone buzzed with a call from him.
"Mara," Daniel said, his voice sounding hollow and exhausted. "Please. We need to talk. Patricia wants to meet. We want to offer you a settlement. Whatever you want—the apartment, a cash payout—we can arrange it. Just please, retract your statement to the police."
"A settlement?" I asked, pretending to hesitate. "I don't want a public trial, Daniel. It’s bad for my firm's reputation too. But I don't trust you. If we negotiate, it has to be on my terms."
"Name them," he said eagerly.
"We meet at the Sterling estate," I said. "Tomorrow night. Just you, me, and Patricia. No lawyers. We sign the divorce papers and the financial settlement, and I'll notify the prosecutor that I'm willing to settle the property damage out of court."
"Done," Daniel said, letting out a sigh of relief. "Tomorrow at eight. I'll make sure the gates are open for you."
After hanging up, I contacted Detective Marcus Ramirez, an old contact of mine who handled financial crimes for the city.
"The bait is taken, Marcus," I said. "They think I'm going there to sign a non-disclosure agreement and a quiet divorce."
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"We'll have a team stationed outside the estate gates, Mara," Marcus warned. "But once you're inside that house, you're on your own. If Patricia suspects you're trying to download their ledger, she won't hesitate to call her private security to have you removed—or worse."
"I know," I said, looking at a small, encrypted USB drive on my desk. "But they still think I'm the quiet, submissive accountant who stayed silent for seven years. They don't know who I really am."
