Chapter 4

3:00 a.m. An abandoned medical waste incineration facility on the outskirts of the city.

The air reeked of scorched, acrid smoke.

Caleb worked like a machine that didn't know how to stop, forcing Monica's body into the high-temperature incinerator.

He watched the roaring flames swallow the body of the woman he had once been obsessed with. Tears rolled silently down his face.

"Mon, I'm sorry. Baby, I'm so sorry."

He bit down on his lip until it split open. Blood seeped into his mouth, metallic and sharp.

"I swear I'll make her pay. I'm going to make Veronica's life a living hell."

Hours later, nothing remained in the incinerator but ash.

Caleb swept the ash into a black plastic bag and dumped it into the drainage ditch behind the facility.

When it was done, he drove straight back to the city, showered, and changed into a tailored suit.

At nine o'clock sharp, he was seated in the chairman's office on the top floor of the company.

There was a board meeting today.

He planned to announce that Veronica had suffered a sudden mental breakdown and had been sent abroad for intensive psychiatric treatment — and that he would be taking full control of the company.

Once he had a firm grip on the finances, he'd hire someone to take care of Veronica for good.

"Caleb, all the board members are here." His assistant knocked and stepped inside.

Caleb straightened his tie, satisfaction spreading across his face, and pushed open the conference room door.

"Everyone, I've called this emergency meeting to share some unfortunate news."

He arranged his expression into something appropriately somber and made his way to the head of the table.

"My wife, Veronica, has been suffering from severe depression for some time now. Last night, she had a sudden manic episode and was rushed to a psychiatric facility overnight..."

BANG!

The heavy double doors of the conference room exploded open from the outside, kicked in with a single blow.

Eight bodyguards in black suits and dark sunglasses filed in and lined up on either side of the entrance.

Veronica walked in behind them.

She wore a sharp white blazer, four-inch heels clicking against the floor, commanding the entire room without saying a word.

Dead silence fell over the conference room. Every board member stared at her, stunned.

The muscles in Caleb's face locked up instantly. He looked like he'd seen a ghost.

"How... how are you here?" The words fell out of his mouth before he could stop them.

Veronica didn't even glance at him. She walked straight to the head of the table.

"Caleb." Her voice was quiet, but it hit him like a slap. "How does it feel, sitting in my seat?"

"Security! Where's security? Get this woman out of here!" Caleb exploded, his composure shattering completely.

Nobody moved.

Veronica reached into her bag and pulled out a thick stack of documents, slamming them onto the conference table with a sharp crack.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the board — this is the complete evidence of Caleb's embezzlement, kickback schemes, and off-the-books accounts over the past two years. All carried out using his position in this company."

"The total amount involved is twenty-five million dollars."

The room erupted.

The board members grabbed the documents and passed them around, their expressions growing darker by the second.

"You're lying! These are all fake!" Caleb lunged forward, trying to snatch the papers.

Two bodyguards stepped in and pinned him to the table like he weighed nothing, pressing his face against the cold surface.

"Fake?" Veronica looked down at him. "The CFO gave us everything last night. He's sitting in a room with financial crimes detectives right now."

Something exploded in Caleb's head. He went completely blank.

The CFO was his most trusted man. How could he have turned on him?!

"Caleb, did you really think burning a body in an incinerator in the middle of the night would make all of this disappear?"

Veronica leaned down and whispered in his ear, low enough that only he could hear.

"You knew I had cameras installed at the house. Did it ever occur to you to check the waste disposal facility?"

Caleb's entire body seized. The blood drained from his face.

"Throw him out." Veronica straightened up and dusted off her hands. "I don't want his mess on the company's carpet."

Caleb was dragged out of the boardroom like a stray dog — hauled into the elevator, then tossed out onto the street in front of the building like a bag of trash.

Office workers streamed past him on the sidewalk, stopping to stare and whisper, looking at him the way you'd look at someone begging for change.

He lay there on the ground, staring up at the floor-to-ceiling window at the top of the building — the one that belonged to the chairman's office.

It was over. He was screwed.