Chapter 4 - The Desertion
The collapse was total, absolute, and blindingly fast.
Because the fraud was irrefutable, my assets were seized by the federal government pending the investigation. I was left with nothing but a maxed-out credit card and a cheap motel room on the outskirts of the city.
Tessa didn't stay. The moment she realized the Atlanta apartment was being foreclosed on and the corporate credit cards were dead, she packed her designer bags—the ones I had bought her—and vanished. She didn't even leave a note.
Four months later, I walked into a sterile mediation room at the downtown courthouse.
I was wearing a suit I had steamed myself in a motel bathroom. I looked ten years older. The arrogant, untouchable executive who had flown to the Bahamas while his son was being born was completely gone.
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Corinne sat across the long wooden table.
She looked radiant. She wore a sharp, tailored navy suit. Her hair was perfectly styled. She didn't look like a victim. She looked like a woman who had successfully excised a tumor and was finally healthy again.
