Chapter 6 - The Return
The elevator doors opened directly into the private apartment lobby.
Skylar stepped out first.
The two officers remained close behind her.
Mara waited downstairs with the building manager, prepared to intervene if Derek challenged the property records.
Skylar’s face hurt, but her mind felt clear.
She unlocked the door with her physical key.
Derek and Suzanne were standing inside, surrounded by the half-empty rooms.
The confrontation unfolded exactly as Skylar had imagined and nothing like Derek expected.
He demanded to know why police had entered his home.
Skylar reminded him that he had ordered her to leave.
Suzanne accused her of lying.
The officer displayed the medical documentation.
Then Skylar placed her wedding ring beside the report and told Derek his access had been canceled.
For several seconds, the only sound in the apartment was the distant rain against the windows.
Derek looked around at the empty walls.
“You planned this.”
“I planned to divorce you,” Skylar said. “You created the rest.”
He pointed toward the officers.
“This is a private marital matter.”
“Assault is not a private matter,” one officer replied.
“I did not assault her.”
The officer opened the evidence folder.
“We have her statement, medical documentation, a witness account, building footage, and an audio recording made immediately after the incident.”
Derek looked at Suzanne.
She shook her head quickly.
“I didn’t know about a recording.”
“You said the hallway camera wouldn’t show what happened,” Skylar told her. “Mrs. Alvarez’s camera recorded what you said afterward.”
Suzanne’s lips parted.
Derek stepped toward Skylar.
One officer immediately moved between them.
“Remain where you are.”
Derek raised both hands.
“I’m not doing anything.”
“You also need to answer questions regarding the disposal of the broken cup.”
“I cleaned my floor.”
“You carried the pieces toward the trash room after your wife left for emergency treatment.”
Derek’s confidence began to collapse.
He looked at Skylar as though she had betrayed an agreement they had never made.
“You’re destroying everything we built.”
“You mean everything I provided while you took credit.”
“I loved you.”
“You loved access to me.”
Suzanne suddenly picked up her suitcase.
“I’m leaving.”
The second officer stopped her.
“Before you go, we need your identification.”
“Why?”
“Your name appears on communications connected to the Atlantic Coast Bank application.”
Suzanne stared at Derek.
He looked away.
That was when she understood that he had included her in more than she realized.
“This was his company,” she said. “I only helped with paperwork.”
Derek turned sharply.
“Stop talking.”
Skylar almost felt sorry for Suzanne.
Almost.
But she remembered the unsigned transfer agreement and the pen pushed across the table.
The officers separated Derek and Suzanne for questioning.
Derek insisted that Skylar had given him verbal permission to manage the apartment. Suzanne claimed she believed Skylar had signed the bank authorization.
Then the police showed Suzanne a message she had sent Derek two weeks earlier.
Her words appeared on the officer’s screen:
She noticed the signature. You should have used the old sample instead.
Suzanne sat down.
Derek stopped speaking.
The message had been recovered from a company phone surrendered by a former employee who was cooperating with the bank investigation.
The assault had brought police to the apartment.
The forgery had given them a reason to look deeper.
Derek was informed that he was being detained for further questioning. He was not permitted to remain in the apartment.
As an officer guided him toward the door, he looked back at Skylar.
“You will regret this.”
Skylar stood beside the medical report.
“No,” she said. “I regret staying silent.”
May you like
The elevator doors closed behind him.
For the first time since their wedding, Skylar was alone in her own home.
