Chapter 9 - The Neon Lights of Miami
Three hundred miles away, under the hot, glittering neon lights of South Beach, the lobby of the Ocean Breeze Hotel looked like a ghost town.
The plush velvet couches were empty. The brass concierge desk was bare. And standing near the front glass doors, frantically tossing her Louis Vuitton luggage into the back of a waiting cab, was Vanessa Cole.
She looked frantic. Her expensive blond hair was pinned up carelessly, her sunglasses hiding eyes red from crying, her manicured fingers trembling as she dropped her smartphone on the pavement.
Before she could pick it up, a large, dark Lincoln Navigator pulled silently up to the curb, cutting off her taxi.
The rear door glided open.
A tall man in a tailored dark suit stepped out, blocking her path. It wasn't an FBI agent. It was Marcus Vance.
Vanessa froze, clutching her handbag to her chest like a shield. “Who are you? What do you want? I have immunity! The federal prosecutor said I’m clean!”
“You have immunity from the Department of Justice, Miss Cole,” Marcus said, his voice smooth and freezing cold. “You do not have immunity from civil litigation filed by Hale Hospitality Group.”
Marcus reached into his briefcase and handed her a thick stack of blue-backed legal papers.
“What is this?” she spat, looking down at the caption.
“A multi-million-dollar personal liability judgment,” Marcus replied calmly. “Every asset you own—the cars, the apartments, the offshore accounts funded by Vincent’s fraudulent bridge loan—has been frozen by a federal judge thirty minutes ago under RICO statutes. You are officially penniless, Miss Cole.”
Vanessa’s face went chalk-white. She dropped the legal papers, her mouth opening in a silent scream of rage. “You can't do this! I’m going to call my lawyer! I’m going to the press!”
“Go ahead,” Marcus said, turning back toward his Navigator. “Tell them how the mistress lost everything to a wife who was paying attention.”
May you like
He stepped inside, the door gliding shut behind him, leaving Vanessa standing alone on the Miami sidewalk as the rain began to pour.
---
