Chapter 6: The Blackwood Collapse
Justin walked slowly to the foot of the hospital bed, his eyes locked on mine, completely ignoring the groaning, bandaged man between us.
“I told you to leave, Sabrina,” Justin repeated, his voice dropping to a dangerous, low octave. “Kenneth’s legal counsel is on the way. I’m taking over his medical proxy and his assets. The board has already been notified of his… indiscretions.”
“Taking over his assets?” I feigned confusion, tilting my head. “Why would you do that, Justin? Unless, of course, those assets were meant for you all along.”
Justin’s jaw tightened. He glanced at Kenneth, who was desperately trying to stay awake, his eyes darting between us.
“You’ve always been too emotional, Sabrina,” Justin sneered, dropping the loving brother act entirely. “Dad was a fool to leave the company to a woman who spends her days crying over empty cribs. Sterling Holdings needs a leader. Not a depressed housewife. Kenneth was just a means to an end. A dumb, greedy tool I used to move the money into the Blackwood escrow.”
Kenneth gasped from the bed, his heart monitor spiking. “Justin… you said… we were partners.”
Justin laughed, a cold, empty sound. “Partners? You slept with my wife, you arrogant prick. I was going to let you keep a few million and flee the country. But now? I’m going to take the forty million, foreclose on the estate tomorrow, and let you rot in federal prison for embezzling from your own wife. Maya was just the bait to destroy your credibility before I pulled the plug.”
Kenneth let out a choked sob, realizing the sheer magnitude of the trap he had walked into. He had betrayed me for money, only to be betrayed by the very man writing the checks.
“It’s a brilliant plan, Justin,” I said, slowly clapping my hands together. The sound was sharp and mocking in the quiet hospital room. “Truly. Using a shell company to bankrupt your own sister, bribing my husband to poison my fertility treatments… it’s Shakespearean.”
Justin frowned, a flicker of uncertainty crossing his arrogant features. “How do you know about the fertility drugs?”
I reached into my blazer and pulled out the laminated medical file, tossing it onto Kenneth’s chest.
“I found the safe, Justin,” I said, my voice dropping its playful tone, replaced by the lethal edge of a guillotine blade. “I found the pharmacy logs. I found the offshore accounts. And I found your signature on the Blackwood foreclosure notice.”
Justin’s eyes widened for a fraction of a second, but he quickly recovered, smoothing the lapels of his suit. “It doesn’t matter what you found. You can’t stop it. The transfer to my primary accounts triggers in less than twenty-four hours. By the time you get a lawyer to file an injunction, the money will be gone, the house will be mine, and you will be destitute.”
“You’re right,” I nodded, pulling Kenneth’s phone from my pocket. “Filing an injunction would take way too long.”
I held the screen up. Justin squinted, reading the bold, green text displaying the completed transaction.
**$40,000,000.00 USD – SUCCESSFULLY ROUTED TO OVERRIDE ACCOUNT: SABRINA ROLLINS PRIVATE TRUST.**
The color completely drained from Justin’s face. He stumbled backward, his knees hitting the metal frame of the visitor’s chair. “No. No, that’s impossible. You need dual biometric authentication. You need his thumbprint!”
“He was very cooperative,” I smiled, looking down at Kenneth, who was staring at me in horrified awe.
“You bitch!” Justin roared, lunging toward me.
But he never reached me.
The heavy hospital door flew open again, and two men in dark windbreakers emblazoned with the letters **FBI** stepped into the room, followed closely by two local police officers. Elias Vance stood in the hallway behind them, offering me a subtle, two-finger salute.
“Justin Sterling,” the lead agent barked, flashing his badge. “You are under arrest for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, extortion, and corporate espionage. Put your hands behind your back.”
Justin froze, his hands trembling as the police officers aggressively spun him around and slapped the steel cuffs onto his wrists. He looked at me, his eyes wide with a frantic, desperate realization that he had underestimated the sister he spent two years trying to destroy.
“Sabrina, wait! We’re family!” Justin pleaded, his voice cracking as they dragged him toward the door. “You can’t do this! I’m your brother!”
“You stopped being my brother the day you decided my womb was an obstacle to your bank account,” I said, my voice devoid of any warmth, any mercy. “Burn in hell, Justin.”
They hauled him out into the hallway, his shouts fading down the corridor.
I turned back to the bed. Kenneth was hyperventilating, his monitors screaming in a chaotic rhythm. “Sabrina… please… they can’t take me. I need medical care… I’m your husband.”
The lead FBI agent approached the bed, pulling a warrant from his jacket. “Kenneth Rollins, you are under arrest for grand larceny, wire fraud, and medical tampering. You will remain under armed guard until you are medically cleared for transport to a federal holding facility.”
I walked up to the edge of the bed. I leaned down, bringing my face inches from Kenneth’s sweaty, terrified face.
“I told you,” I whispered, “that the combination to the safe was the price of your surgery. I never said it was the price of your freedom.”
I turned on my heel and walked out of the room, leaving him to the agents.
