Chapter 3 - The Secret Wire Transfers
Ryan blinked, a nervous, defensive chuckle escaping his lips. "What are you talking about? My name is on the deed!"
"It was," my father agreed, pulling a slim black tablet from his inner coat pocket and handing it to Marcus, who tapped the screen and held it up for Ryan to see. "Until the forensic audit completed by my legal team revealed that you used forged power-of-attorney documents to pledge this home as collateral for a shell company in Belize."
I stared at Ryan in utter disbelief. "Ryan... what did you do?"
Ryan's face went from pale white to a deep, mottled red. "He's lying, Emily! He's trying to manipulate you! He's always hated me because I didn't come from his aristocratic background!"
"Thirty million dollars, Ryan," my father said calmly, ignoring his outburst. "That is the total amount you have siphoned from Whitmore Enterprises over the last eighteen months through fake vendor accounts, inflated construction bids, and offshore wire transfers."
The room went dead silent.
I looked at the man I had been married to for eight years. I thought back to his recent sudden obsession with my father's business affairs, his constant late-night meetings, his uncharacteristic rage whenever I asked about our joint bank accounts.
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"You didn't come home angry tonight because I was at Lily's school," I said, the bitter, agonizing truth finally crystallizing in my mind. "You came home angry because you realized the auditors were closing in on you."
Ryan glared at me, his eyes filled with a raw, ugly malice that I had never seen before. "You stupid, useless woman," he spat out, dropping the loving husband facade entirely. "You think you're so special just because of your daddy's money? You're nothing without him! I earned every cent of that money dealing with your pathetic family!"
