Chapter 9 - Melissa
Melissa wasn't a criminal mastermind.
She was scared.
When investigators located her, she cooperated.
Trevor had paid her to sign documents.
He told her they were demonstration forms for a legal-tech investor presentation.
She admitted she should have questioned it.
But she needed money.
Gerald Pike had coached her.
Dress professionally.
Blonde wig.
Minimal makeup.
Use the signature provided.
She received five thousand dollars.
Trevor had paid Gerald far more.
Melissa's statement connected pieces that had previously floated separately.
But the most painful revelation wasn't legal.
It was personal.
Melissa remembered Trevor talking about me.
"He said his wife would never notice," she told investigators.
"Why?"
"Because she trusted him."
That sentence stayed with me.
Trust wasn't stupidity.
But misplaced trust could become expensive.
I refused to let Trevor redefine the best part of me as weakness.
I had trusted because I loved.
He had exploited because he chose to.
Those were not equivalent failures.
Meanwhile, Bennett Meridian landed the Pasadena project.
The largest contract in company history.
My employees surprised me with champagne.
For the first time in weeks, I laughed without forcing it.
My life had continued while Trevor's scheme collapsed.
That seemed to bother him more than losing access to money.
He began sending messages from unfamiliar numbers.
You destroyed us.
You turned Hailey against me.
Your parents hate me because of you.
I saved every one.
Never replied.
Then came the final message.
You think you've won.
I stared at it.
Winning had never been my goal.
Surviving intact was.
May you like
But Trevor apparently still believed there was a game being played.
And he was preparing one last move.
