Chapter 10 - The Chameleon’s Cage
While Dominic lay ruined on the floor, Vivienne quietly tried to slide backward through the crowd toward the side emergency exits.
She slipped off her high heels, clutching her designer clutch, praying the chaos would cover her escape.
She took three quiet steps before the cold barrel of a federal sidearm pressed gently against the back of her neck.
Two female agents wearing Federal Bureau of Investigation windbreakers stepped out of the shadows, flanked by Homeland Security personnel.
“Vivienne Dubois,” the lead agent announced, her voice cutting through the panic.
“Or should we call you Clara Jenkins, escaped fugitive from the state of Florida?”
Vivienne froze, the fake emerald necklace suddenly feeling like an iron noose around her throat.
“I don't know what you’re talking about!” Vivienne shrieked, struggling against the agent’s grip.
“I am a society heiress! Dominic, tell them!”
The main screens shifted once more, displaying Vivienne’s true criminal history across the ballroom.
Her real identity was Clara Jenkins—a professional con artist wanted for two counts of wire fraud, identity theft, and the suspected arsenic poisoning of an elderly hotel magnate in Palm Beach.
Forensic financial records flashed on the screen, showing how Vivienne had been siphoning millions of dollars from Dominic’s secondary accounts into private crypto wallets over the past eighteen months.
She hadn't loved Dominic.
She was preparing to drain his remaining liquidity and flee to non-extradition territory the moment the federal merger was completed.
Dominic looked up from the floor, his eyes bulging with manic disbelief.
“Vivienne…?” Dominic gasped, his voice cracking with utter betrayal.
“You… you were stealing from me?!”
Vivienne stopped struggling and looked down at Dominic with pure, unadulterated contempt.
Her sweet, seductive socialite facade vanished instantly, replaced by the vicious snarl of a cornered predator.
“You arrogant, pathetic fool!” Vivienne spat, struggling against the steel handcuffs being locked around her wrists.
“You really thought a woman like me would love a cowardly mama’s boy like you?”
“You couldn't even satisfy your own wife!”
“You were nothing more than a stupid, bloated piggy bank with a fancy suit!”
She turned her venomous gaze toward me and Chloe.
“And that little brat should have been hit harder!” Vivienne screamed, thrashing wildly.
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“If I had another day, I would have burned your whole house down!”
The FBI agents shoved Vivienne down onto her knees, reading her Miranda rights directly into her ear as the ballroom cameras recorded every second of her humiliation.
