Chapter 10 - Unraveling the Web
The next morning, the rain finally cleared, leaving cold autumn sunlight streaming through the windows of the federal courthouse in Alexandria.
Paige Ellison sat in an interrogation room surrounded by two federal prosecutors, an FBI forensic auditor, and her court-appointed counsel.
Her glamour had entirely vanished.
Her makeup was gone, her hair was tied back in a plain knot, and she wore an ordinary grey sweater.
Across the table, Assistant U.S. Attorney David Miller clicked his pen.
"Ms. Ellison, you understand that any false statements during this proffer session void your immunity agreement immediately?" Miller stated.
"Yes," Paige whispered, her hands shaking as she clutched a paper cup of lukewarm water.
"State for the record how the three offshore entities were structured."
Paige swallowed hard and looked down at her hands.
"Adrian approached me fourteen months ago," she began, her voice cracked and fragile.
"He told me that the transit company had reached maximum valuation and that he wanted to cash out without sharing the proceeds with his wife."
"He said she was a naive trust fund baby who had never worked a day in her life and wouldn't know how to read a balance sheet."
Miller jotted a note on his pad.
"And your role?"
"He promised me twenty percent of the liquidated capital and a permanent seat on the board of a new private equity firm he intended to launch in Florida," Paige said, tears welling in her eyes.
"I created the vendor invoices for the digital marketing and passenger flow analytics."
"None of the work was ever performed."
"The invoices were rubber-stamped by Adrian, and the funds were routed through a correspondent bank in Manhattan directly into accounts in George Town and Zurich."
"Did Adrian Hollis explicitly state his intentions regarding the custody of his children?" Miller asked.
Paige choked back a sob.
"He said he needed primary custody so he could claim the family residence and force Elena into a lopsided cash settlement."
"He told me he would put the boys in boarding school in Switzerland the moment the divorce decree was signed."
"He said... he said having them around would only get in the way of our new life."
May you like
The FBI agent across the table stopped typing and looked at Paige with cold disgust.
Every word she uttered was being captured on digital tape, ready to be entered into the public record of both the criminal trial and the custody proceedings.
