Vanessa screamed as she crashed into the officer, sending them both to the floor in a tangle of limbs and scarlet fabric.

Two other MPs tackled Daniel, driving him forward. His face slammed into the mahogany, his nose crunching. They pinned him under their knees.

I looked down at him as he groaned, blood dripping onto the unsigned three-hundred-million-dollar contract.

By using a civilian as a shield and assaulting an officer, he’d just turned a white-collar case into a physical assault on federal agents.

Vanessa pushed herself up, her dress torn, her face a mask of hatred at the man who’d thrown her to the wolves.

“I have everything!” she screamed, pointing at his bleeding face. “I recorded him! I have tapes of him planning the embezzlement! I’ll give you everything!”