Chapter 16 - Finish It
The handwritten page was recovered from a shredded document bag in Sloane's storage unit.
Digital reconstruction helped confirm the fragments.
Corinne's handwriting expert comparison supported authorship.
At the top:
BOW
Below it:
A goes inside
S handles camera
L approaches C
1m
fall angle
Then the sentence Adrian couldn't stop seeing:
If she catches rim, finish it.
Ruiz didn't show him the photographs.
Miriam did not want him seeing more than necessary.
He insisted on seeing the text once.
Then no more.
"That's attempted murder," he said.
Ruiz replied, "That's evidence relevant to intent."
He looked at her.
"Can you ever just say yes?"
"When a jury says yes."
Adrian almost smiled.
Then couldn't.
Corinne was arrested the next morning.
Police took her from a rental property on Brickell Avenue.
News helicopters filmed the entrance.
Adrian turned off the television before Lila came downstairs.
Corinne was charged with offenses including attempted murder and conspiracy-related counts; exact charges would be fought over in court.
Sloane and Tessa were arrested later that day on related allegations involving the cover-up, evidence tampering and the broader scheme.
Brooke remained under a cooperation agreement while prosecutors evaluated her exposure.
Victor Hale was not arrested.
That enraged almost everyone.
Especially Camille.
"So he just goes home?"
"Federal investigation is ongoing," Miriam said.
"Meaning?"
"Meaning complicated."
"I hate complicated."
"Most adults do."
Adrian barely listened.
He was reading Corinne's booking photograph online.
No cream dress.
No perfect lighting.
No smile.
Just a tired woman looking slightly annoyed.
He expected triumph.
Instead he felt grief.
Not for the marriage.
For the person he'd thought existed.
That evening, Corinne's lawyer called Miriam with a request.
Corinne wanted to speak to Adrian.
"No," Miriam said.
Adrian said, "Yes."
Miriam stared at him.
"No."
"I need to hear her."
"You absolutely do not."
"One call."
"Why?"
"Because she spent fourteen months telling me what I saw."
Miriam's voice hardened.
"And you think she'll stop now?"
"No."
"Then what's the value?"
Adrian looked at Simone's letter on the desk.
"I want to know if I can hear the difference now."
Miriam hated the idea.
Eventually, under strict conditions and with counsel aware, a brief monitored call occurred.
Corinne's voice sounded almost normal.
"Adrian."
He said nothing.
"You came."
"I'm on a phone."
"You know what I mean."
"What do you want?"
She inhaled.
"To tell you I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"Everything."
"Specific."
"Adrian."
"Specific."
Silence.
Then, "I'm sorry Lila was hurt."
He nearly laughed.
"That's not an apology."
"I never meant for—"
"Don't."
"You don't know what happened."
"I know enough."
"Brooke is lying to save herself."
"Sloane recorded you."
Another silence.
"She set me up."
"Tessa prepared a packet predicting my family crisis."
"That was business."
"My three-year-old was hanging over the ocean."
Corinne's voice sharpened.
"And you think I don't see her every time I close my eyes?"
Adrian went still.
For one second, she sounded human.
Then she added, "Do you have any idea what Hale made me believe would happen if I backed out?"
There.
The pivot.
From perpetrator to victim.
"What did he threaten?"
"He didn't have to."
"Then don't use that word."
"You don't understand those people."
"I understand you chose them."
Corinne began crying.
"I loved you."
Adrian closed his eyes.
"Did you?"
"Yes."
"Then why did you call me disgusting?"
Silence.
"Why did you call my daughter disgusting?"
"Adrian—"
"Was it my skin?"
Her breathing changed.
"Don't do that."
"Do what?"
"Turn this into something racial."
"You married a Black man while talking about him like contamination."
"That's not fair."
He almost laughed.
"Fair?"
Corinne was quiet.
Then she whispered, "I hated needing you."
Adrian opened his eyes.
There it was.
Not love.
Not exactly.
Resentment.
"I never asked you to need me."
"You loved it."
That hurt because Simone's letter was sitting three feet away.
Adrian answered carefully.
"Maybe I did."
Corinne went silent.
"But I didn't push a child off a yacht to fix it."
Her voice cracked.
"Adrian—"
He ended the call.
Miriam had been right.
Corinne hadn't stopped manipulating.
But Adrian had finally heard the difference.
That night he slept six uninterrupted hours.
May you like
It felt like the beginning of something.
---
