RETURN OF THE SHADOW WAR GOD: The Ex-wife's Ruin

A Thief in a Borrowed Suit

Selena & Jaden POV

The smell of cheap coffee and stale disinfectant hung heavy in Interrogation Room A.

Victor Vale leaned over the metal table, his collar unbuttoned, sweat soaking through his blue dress shirt. Across from him sat Federal Investigator Miller, calmly flipping through a stack of bank ledgers.

"I didn't sign those transfer guarantees!" Victor yelled, his fingers slamming down on the formica tabletop. "Selena Vance brought those documents to my office! She told me her husband had corporate connections. I was an investor! I was misled!"

Miller didn't look up. "Your thumbprint is on the digital signature pad, Mr. Vale."

"She forced my hand! She and Jaden Stallion framed me!" Victor leaned in, his voice dropping into a frantic whisper. "Listen to me... I know how Aureus Capital operates. Give me a plea deal. I'll testify against Selena and her father. I'll hand over all the remaining Vance family land deeds to Aureus. Just clear my name from the default judgment."

Miller finally closed the folder, a small, cold smile on his face. "You're willing to put your fiancé away for twenty years to save your own skin?"

"She isn't my fiancé," Victor spat without hesitation. "She's a liability."

Down the hall in Interrogation Room B, Selena sat on a cold metal folding chair. Her hands were cuffed in front of her, the steel links clinking against the tabletop every time her knees trembled.

Her silk dress was ruined, stiff with mud and rainwater. Her hair hung in flat, damp strands around her pale face.

The heavy steel door unlocked with a loud, hydraulic clunk.

Selena snapped her head up. "I want my lawyer! I told you, Jaden Stallion is the one who stole—"

The words died in her throat.

Jaden walked into the room.

He didn't wear the faded fifty-dollar jacket she was used to seeing. He wore a dark charcoal three-piece suit cut so sharp it looked tailored by hand. His hair was pushed back, revealing the clean, sharp angles of his jaw. Behind him walked two armed federal marshals who stood at attention outside the door, closing it softly behind him.

Selena stared at him, her lips parting. For three seconds, her brain refused to process the image.

Jaden pulled out the metal chair across from her and sat down. He didn't look at her with anger or malice. His eyes were dark, flat, and completely devoid of warmth.

He reached into his jacket pocket, pulled out a small black audio player, and placed it on the table between them. He tapped the glass screen once.

An audio file began to play. Victor’s panicked, whiny voice rang out clearly through the small speaker:

—"She isn't my fiancé. She's a liability. I'll testify against Selena and her father. I'll hand over all the remaining Vance family land deeds to Aureus..."—

The audio cut off. Silence settled over the concrete room, heavy and suffocating.

Selena’s breath caught in her windpipe. Her face drained of what little color was left, turning a sickly, papery white.

"Victor..." she whispered, her eyes fixed on the black recorder. "No... he wouldn't..."

"He did," Jaden said. His voice was steady, like a judge reading a routine sentence. "He offered to hand your family's last remaining assets over to Aureus ten minutes ago."

Selena’s jaw trembled. Her mind spun violently, clawing for a way out of the trap, searching for any angle to protect her pride. She looked at Jaden's tailored suit, at the armed federal marshals standing outside the glass window like hired muscle, and a dark, bitter light ignited in her eyes.

A cold, breathless laugh escaped her lips, dripping with pure contempt.

"You think this scares me?" she scoffed, leaning across the table as far as her cuffs would allow, looking at him like he was something dirty on the bottom of her shoe. "You think playing a recording makes you a big man?"

Jaden leaned back in his chair, a slow, lazy smirk stretching across his face, his dark eyes glinting with dangerous amusement.

"You think I stepped in back there out of the goodness of my heart?" He leaned in slightly, his voice dropping to a low, taunting thread. "You really have no idea what I'm capable of, do you? Or what it costs to have me on your side."

"Capable?" Selena sneered, her voice rising in a sharp, mocking crescendo that echoed off the concrete walls. "Don't flatter yourself, Jaden! You're not some criminal mastermind—you're just a thief! We both know how you got into this building!"

Jaden didn't interrupt her. He simply watched her with that infuriating, impassive stare.

"You stole the access codes from Aureus Royal Vaults!" Selena yelled, her cuffed hands slamming against the steel table. "You used stolen funds to buy that suit, buy off these marshals, and bribe your way into this interrogation room! You think throwing stolen wealth around suddenly makes you powerful? You think buying your way into a room covers up where that gold came from?!"

Jaden didn't deny a single word. He just sat there, that infuriatingly ambiguous smile playing on his lips—neither confirming nor denying her rant.

His silence only cemented everything in her delusional mind. He isn't even defending himself, she thought, her heart pounding against her ribs as she glared at him. He bought his seat at this table with stolen blood and coin. He's using a dead man's suit to play god!

"Enjoy it while it lasts, Jaden," Selena spat, her eyes narrowing into cold slits of pure spite. "You bought your seat at this table with stolen coin. The moment the real Chairman of Aureus Capital finds out you used his name to settle a personal grudge, he won't just arrest you—he'll destroy you!"

Jaden stood up slowly, buttoning his charcoal jacket with one hand.

"You were my wife, Selena," Jaden said, his tone so cold it froze the air in her lungs. "Now you're just a debtor."

He turned and knocked twice on the steel door. The heavy lock clicked open, and he stepped out into the bright fluorescent hallway without looking back once.

Selena thrashed against her chair, her iron cuffs clanking violently. "Walk away, thief! See what happens when the real master arrives!"

In the hallway, Marcus stood waiting by the concrete wall, holding an encrypted tablet.

"War God," Marcus whispered as Jaden walked past. "Victor Vale’s plea agreement has been drafted. He believes he is meeting with the Senior Legal Director of Aureus Capital in Room A to sign his immunity deal."

Jaden stopped in front of Interrogation Room A's door. He adjusted his cuffs, his expression devoid of all humor.

"Open the door," Jaden commanded.

Marcus turned the handle and pushed the door open.

Inside, Victor Vale sat with a confident, arrogant grin on his face, looking up expectantly. "Ah, the Aureus boss is finally here—"

The grin froze on Victor's face. The color drained from his lips, his eyes widening in sheer terror as his lower jaw trembled violently.

Jaden stepped into the room and pulled out the central chair.

"Let's talk about your deal, Victor," Jaden said.