Chapter 17 - Corinne’s ChoiceCorinne met Marcus at a marina café under police supervision.
She wore a recording device authorized as part of the investigation.
Ortiz had explained the rules twice.
“Do not improvise.”
Corinne gave her a tired smile.
“You’ve met me. Improvising is how we got here.”
Ortiz did not smile back.
“Exactly.”
Marcus arrived nine minutes late.
He sat without greeting her.
“You look awful.”
“Good to see you too.”
“Why did you ask to meet?”
Corinne stirred coffee she had no intention of drinking.
“My lawyer says I’m in trouble.”
“You pushed a kid.”
The casual cruelty of it shocked her.
For months Marcus had described Junie as leverage.
Obstacle.
Trust beneficiary.
Never a child.
Corinne had adopted the same language because it made cruelty easier.
Now hearing it from him made her sick.
“You said you’d protect me.”
Marcus leaned closer.
“I said I’d help.”
“You told me the camera would be off.”
“So?”
“Police know.”
His face changed.
“How?”
“Marina footage.”
“Of what?”
“Me meeting Reese.”
Marcus sat back.
“Then tell them he was fixing your phone.”
“They have the device.”
For the first time, fear appeared.
Small.
Real.
“You kept it?”
“I forgot about it.”
“You stupid—”
He stopped himself.
Corinne stared.
“Finish the sentence.”
Marcus rubbed his forehead.
“Listen to me. Do not give them anything else.”
“They found Cypress North.”
His eyes hardened.
“That money was legal consulting compensation.”
“For what consulting?”
“You helped with stakeholder intelligence.”
“I married Adrian.”
“That was your decision.”
Corinne almost laughed.
There it was.
The escape hatch.
Marcus had built the plan so every crime could be described as somebody else’s decision.
“What about the forged trust summary?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You gave it to me.”
“Prove it.”
Corinne’s chest tightened.
“You told me if Junie died, Adrian would control Naomi’s shares.”
Marcus glanced around.
“Lower your voice.”
“Was that a lie?”
“I told you what I understood.”
“It was a lie.”
“Corinne.”
“You used my father.”
“Your father ruined himself.”
“You engineered the Vale default.”
Marcus’s face changed completely.
“Who told you that?”
“Does it matter?”
“Yes.”
“Naomi knew too, didn’t she?”
Marcus looked toward the marina.
For a moment, Corinne thought he might leave.
Instead he leaned closer.
“Naomi was dying.”
Corinne’s stomach turned.
“That isn’t an answer.”
“She was sick, paranoid and obsessed with spreadsheets.”
“She found Bracken.”
Marcus’s jaw tightened.
Corinne continued.
“She found the vendor payments.”
“Stop.”
“She knew you were stealing.”
“Stop.”
“You said cancer solved your problem.”
Marcus grabbed her wrist beneath the table.
Hard.
Corinne flinched.
“You need to understand something,” he whispered. “Adrian is not going to forgive you. His lawyers will bury you. The police will make you the whole story because you are easy.”
Corinne looked at his hand around her wrist.
“And you?”
“I can help.”
“How?”
“Keep quiet.”
“Then what?”
“We create reasonable doubt around the child interview.”
Corinne stared.
“Junie?”
“Four-year-olds are unreliable.”
Something inside Corinne finally broke in the opposite direction.
Not toward violence.
Toward clarity.
She had already hurt that child once.
Marcus wanted her to do it again.
This time with words.
“No.”
Marcus blinked.
“What?”
“I’m not calling her a liar.”
“Corinne—”
“She told the truth.”
His grip tightened.
“She is going to put you in prison.”
“I put me there.”
Marcus stared at her.
For perhaps the first time, he realized the woman he had manipulated could no longer be controlled through grievance.
His voice dropped.
“You think confession makes you good?”
“No.”
“You think Adrian will see this and decide you’re brave?”
“No.”
“You think your father will forgive you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then what exactly are you doing?”
Corinne’s eyes filled.
“Stopping.”
Marcus released her wrist.
She stood.
He whispered, “Sit down.”
“No.”
“You walk away from me, I can’t protect you.”
Corinne looked at him.
“You never protected me.”
His expression darkened.
She continued.
“You just kept making sure I was the person standing closest to the explosion.”
Corinne turned and walked.
Behind her, Marcus said one final thing.
“You have no idea what’s coming.”
Police officers moved in only after she crossed the predetermined point.
Ortiz met her near the parking lot.
“You okay?”
Corinne looked at the red marks on her wrist.
“No.”
Ortiz nodded.
“Good answer.”
Corinne laughed once through tears.
Adrian used that phrase too.
Or maybe everyone did.
Maybe ordinary people sounded similar when the truth finally exhausted them.
“What did we get?” Corinne asked.
Ortiz looked toward the café.
“Enough to keep digging.”
“Not enough to arrest him?”
“Not for everything.”
Corinne nodded.
She had expected satisfaction.
There was none.
Only a strange emptiness.
She had spent years believing justice would feel like someone else suffering.
Now she understood something her father had learned too late.
Justice was not revenge.
May you like
Sometimes justice was simply refusing to tell the next lie.
Even when the truth destroyed you first.
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