Chapter 7 - Secrets in the Ledger
In the quiet of the Key West morning,
Naomi sat on the balcony of their new villa,
the sound of the waves providing a soothing rhythm.
She had her tablet open,
performing a final audit of the business accounts she had frozen.
As she dug deeper into the transaction history of the card Betsy had been using,
she found something that made her blood run cold.
It wasn't just luxury shopping and dinners.
There were large,
recurring transfers to a private account in the Cayman Islands.
Over the last three years,
Betsy had siphoned off nearly three hundred thousand dollars.
She had been doing it in small increments,
disguised as "consulting fees" and "administrative expenses."
Naomi realized that Betsy wasn't just entitled;
she was a thief.
She had been stealing from the very company she claimed to despise.
She had been building a secret nest egg while treating the woman who earned it like a servant.
"Lucas,
come look at this,"
Naomi called out,
her voice trembling with a new kind of fury.
Lucas walked out,
coffee in hand,
and looked at the screen.
As he scrolled through the records,
his face went from confusion to utter devastation.
"She told me she was using that money for her heart medication,"
he whispered.
"She said the insurance wouldn't cover it."
"She lied about her health to rob us,
Lucas,"
Naomi said,
closing the tablet with a sharp snap.
"She wasn't just being mean to my parents."
"She was actively trying to bankrupt our future."
The realization hit Lucas like a physical blow.
He had spent years defending a woman who was systematically betraying him.
"I’m calling the lawyers,"
he said,
his voice cold and hollow.
"I’m not just cutting her off."
"I’m going to make sure she pays back every cent."
"And if she can't,"
he added,
looking out at the horizon,
"then she can explain it to a judge."
The sun was bright,
but for Lucas,
the world had just become very dark.
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He realized that the woman who raised him was a stranger.
And the woman sitting beside him was the only person who had ever truly had his back.
