CHAPTER 3: THE DEVIL'S CONTRACT
As the recording faded, the air in the Vale mansion's living room seemed to be sucked out. A faint buzzing sound from the playback device echoed in the suffocating silence, like a bomb's countdown to zero.
Vanessa froze, her hand, which had just released the champagne glass, still suspended in mid-air. Her elaborately made-up face contorted, shifting from arrogant disdain to a deathly pale, bloodless expression. Her crimson lips trembled violently:
"No... It can't be... Those audio discs... How did you get them?"
"In a world where money is used to oppress others, you should remember that technology always belongs to those with more money," Richard Sterling's voice rang out, as nonchalant as if he were discussing the morning weather. He gently helped Evelyn sit down on the luxurious leather sofa. Despite her wounds, Evelyn's posture was no longer that of someone cornered. It was the posture of someone who had just removed their mask and returned to their rightful place of dominance.
Adrian took a step back, his expensive leather shoes stepping on the shards of glass from Vanessa's champagne glass. His hands trembled, his eyes darting between the thick stack of documents on the table and the silver-haired man standing before him.
"Mr. Sterling..." Adrian tried to compose himself, but his panic betrayed him. "This... this must be a misunderstanding. I didn't know Evelyn was... I just thought she..."
"You thought she was a poor, unprivileged girl, easily manipulated and trampled upon?" Richard interrupted, his sharp gaze piercing Adrian's face. "You think there are so many people with the surname 'Sterling' in the world that you consider it a coincidence?"
"I..." Adrian stammered.
Years ago, when Evelyn entered his life, she appeared simple, with an old car and a top-notch finance degree. When he asked about her family, she only smiled and said her father 'worked with numbers.' Adrian – with the self-satisfaction of a newly rich man who had made his fortune through shady deals – had assumed her father was just a lowly accountant in a provincial town. He had never doubted it, because Evelyn's humility and patience were too perfect.
Two female doctors accompanying the group approached. They quickly but extremely gently used antiseptic solution and medical gauze to treat the wounds on Evelyn's shoulder and back. Each time the folds of her clothing touched the cuts, Evelyn winced slightly, but her eyes never left Adrian and Vanessa.
"Five minutes," Richard said coldly, glancing at the Patek Philippe watch on his wrist. "I'll give you two five minutes to explain why the Vale money laundering files shouldn't be on the Central Prosecutor's Office's desk tomorrow morning."
Vanessa rushed forward, collapsing to her knees before Richard, her earlier arrogance completely gone, replaced by utter despair.
"Mr. Sterling! Please! It was Adrian... he instigated me! He said I had to teach Evelyn a lesson so she'd know her place! I knew nothing! About the fake contracts, the money transfers abroad... I knew absolutely nothing!"
"Vanessa! Shut your mouth!" Adrian roared, his face contorted with anger and fear. He lunged to grab Vanessa's shoulders but was pushed to the floor by two black-clad bodyguards.
Richard didn't even glance at Vanessa for a second. He simply bent down to look at Evelyn, his eyes filled with the pain of a father:
"How long have you endured this?"
"Two years, Father," Evelyn replied softly, her voice weak but undeniably clear. "Long enough to uncover the entire underground network of the Vale family. Long enough to know who was behind the bankruptcy of the parent company that year."
Adrian looked up, his eyes wide with horror: "You... you deliberately approached me? All of this... this marriage... was arranged by you?"
Evelyn smiled. A faint smile, yet one that sent chills down the spine of the person facing her.
"Do you think a man like you, with average intelligence and insatiable greed, could accidentally meet a top financial analyst? Adrian, every step you've taken over the past two years, every signature on those fictitious invoices, every sham account in Switzerland... I personally paved the way for you."
"You're a devil..." Adrian whispered, his whole body trembling.
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"No, Adrian," Evelyn leaned closer, speaking in a voice only the two of them could hear. "I'm just a reflection of your greed. If you had treated me with sincerity, those documents would have remained your personal property forever. But you chose ruthlessness."
The chief prosecutor of the Sterling corporation stepped forward, opening his high-end leather briefcase...
