Chapter 8 - The Audit Uncovered a Web of BetrayalI picked up the flash drive and carried it to my home office.
Daniel and Richard were already waiting.
Neither of them spoke while I inserted it into my computer.
A spreadsheet filled the screen.
Hundreds of transactions.
Different dates.
Different bank accounts.
Different company names.
But every trail ended with the same people.
Victoria's family.
Her younger brother had received millions through "consulting fees" despite never working a single day for my company.
Her cousin had been awarded construction contracts that charged nearly double the market price.
An interior design firm owned by her aunt had billed us for luxury renovations that had never been completed.
Every document looked legitimate.
Every signature had been carefully placed.
It wasn't sloppy.
It was organized.
"How much?" I asked.
Richard took a slow breath.
"Our conservative estimate is forty-three million dollars."
I leaned back in my chair.
Not because of the money.
I had earned far more than that over the years.
What shook me was the planning.
This hadn't happened overnight.
It had taken years.
Years of smiling at me across the dinner table.
Years of telling me she loved me.
Years of quietly treating my trust like an unlimited bank account.
Daniel slid another folder across the desk.
"There's something else."
Inside were photographs taken by our corporate investigators.
Victoria's brother driving a new Ferrari.
Her cousin buying a beachfront villa in Malibu.
Her aunt wearing jewelry worth more than most families earned in a lifetime.
I recognized several of those purchases.
I had assumed they came from her family's wealth.
Instead...
I had paid for them.
Richard looked at me carefully.
"Legally, we can recover a significant portion of these assets."
"What about criminal charges?"
"If we proceed, several members of her family could face fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering investigations."
The room fell silent.
At that moment, my phone buzzed.
Victoria.
I almost ignored it.
Then I answered.
Her voice was weak.
"Ethan... please."
"I know you hate me."
"But my family had nothing to do with this."
I glanced at the spreadsheets covering my screen.
For the first time, I realized she wasn't calling to apologize for what she'd done to my mother.
She was calling to protect the people who had benefited from it.
I spoke only one sentence.
"I know exactly who was involved."
Then I ended the call.
A minute later, another message appeared.
This one wasn't from Victoria.
It was from an anonymous number.
If you expose the Cole family scandal, you'll regret it.
No signature.
No name.
Just a threat.
Daniel looked over my shoulder.
"Should I trace it?"
I locked the phone and stood up.
"Yes."
Then I looked out the office window toward the city skyline I had spent twenty years helping build.
"They're making one mistake."
Richard raised an eyebrow.
"They still think this is about money."
I closed the blinds.
"They haven't realized..."
"They've declared war on the only thing I'll never compromise."
May you like
"My mother."
And I had no intention of losing.
