Chapter 4 - THE PAPER TRAIL
Evelyn sat in the back of the sedan,
watching the city lights blur past the window.
The agent who had led the raid,
Agent Miller,
was sitting in the front seat.
“You were right about the foundation,
Evelyn,”
Miller said,
turning around.
“We found the secondary server in the basement of the estate.”
“It’s all there.”
“Every bribe,
every forged signature.”
Evelyn nodded,
her mind already moving to the next steps.
“What about the mistress?”
she asked.
“Madison?”
“She’s being questioned,”
Miller replied.
“She’s already singing.”
“She says Graham promised her a penthouse in Paris once he 'took care' of you.”
Evelyn’s grip on her clutch tightened.
“Took care of me?”
“He was planning to file for a mental incompetency hearing,”
Miller said quietly.
“He wanted to use the family doctor to prove you were unstable.”
“He was going to take control of your personal assets and have you committed.”
The room in the restaurant seemed like a small insult compared to that.
He hadn't just stolen her work;
he had been planning to steal her life.
Her freedom.
Her sanity.
She thought of the times she had felt "clumsy" or "forgetful" lately.
She realized now that he had probably been drugging her tea.
Small doses to make her doubt herself.
Small doses to make her appear unstable to others.
The fire in her heart turned into a cold,
hard block of ice.
“I want to see the files,”
she said.
“I want to see everything he tried to do.”
Miller handed her a tablet.
As Evelyn scrolled through the documents,
the depth of the betrayal was staggering.
He had been planning this for years.
Even before the business started to fail.
He had married her not for love,
but for her skill.
He needed an auditor he could manipulate.
He needed a name to hide behind.
He had never intended for her to be his wife.
He had intended for her to be his shield.
And Beatrice had been the architect of the social destruction.
She had been the one to isolate Evelyn.
To make her feel small.
To make the family believe she was a burden.
Evelyn closed her eyes,
feeling a strange sense of peace.
The truth was out.
The audit was over.
May you like
Now,
it was time for the liquidation.
