I stayed close enough that she could see me.
At one point, Victor called across the room.
“Elena.”
She flinched.
He softened his voice.
It was the first gentle tone I had heard from him all night.
“Tell them this is a misunderstanding.”
Elena stared at him.
Victor continued.
“You know what happens if this becomes public.
The foundation collapses.
Your reputation is destroyed.
Every donor sees you as unstable.”
There it was.
Not love.
Not apology.
Leverage.
Even in handcuffs, he was still trying to find the pressure point.
Elena looked toward the black folder on the evidence table.
Then she looked at me.
“Is the foundation gone?”
“No.”
Victor laughed.
“He can’t know that.”
I answered Elena, not him.
“The board froze the suspicious accounts before the remaining funds could move.
The foundation’s independent trustees are already taking control.”
Her eyes filled, but she refused to let the tears fall.
“How much did he take?”
I hesitated.
She saw it.
“Adrian.”
“Millions.”
She closed her eyes.
Victor immediately spoke.
“Money I invested.
Money I multiplied.
Money she would’ve wasted.”
Elena opened her eyes again.
“It wasn’t yours.”
“Everything in our marriage was mine.”
That sentence settled over the room.
Reyes glanced toward my lapel camera.
Victor noticed.
His expression changed.
“Is that recording?”
I said nothing.
He stepped toward me before an agent held him back.
“Turn it off.”
I remained still.
“Turn it off!”
Elena stared at him.
Victor looked at the agents, the evidence technicians, the guards who had abandoned him, and finally the tiny black lens on my jacket.
He understood.
The warehouse had never been the private kingdom he believed it was.
His own words had escaped before he did.
