Chapter 5 - THE FINANCIAL WEB
The living room felt like a courtroom, and Sophia was trapped with nowhere left to run. Her elaborate web of lies was unraveling thread by thread, exposing an ugliness that went far deeper than a staged accusation of assault.
"It's not true," Sophia muttered, though her voice lacked any real conviction. "Your father is making it all up to turn you against me."
"I don't have to make anything up, Sophia," Richard said calmly, reaching into the inner pocket of his cardigan and pulling out a folded manila folder. He tossed it onto the coffee table right in front of Ethan. "I had our accountant run a full forensic audit of the household accounts after I noticed twenty thousand dollars missing from the contingency fund last month. Here are the wire transfers. All headed straight to 'Apex Culinary LLC'—owned by your brother, Marcus."
Ethan opened the folder with trembling fingers. Page after page of bank statements, transaction logs, and wire receipts stared back at him. Money he had worked sixty-hour weeks to earn, money meant for his children's education and his family's security, had been systematically siphoned away without his knowledge.
He looked up from the papers, his eyes locking onto Sophia. The woman he had loved, the woman he had defended blindly against his own flesh and blood, was a stranger.
"You stole from us," Ethan whispered, the words tasting like ash in his mouth. "You stole from our family, and then you tried to destroy my father to cover your tracks."
"I was trying to save my family's business!" Sophia shouted, finally losing her composure as she stood up, slamming her hands down on the table. "My brother needed that money! If the restaurant went under, my parents would have lost their home! What was I supposed to do, just let them suffer while you hoard millions in a locked trust?"
"You talk about saving a family," Ethan said, his voice dropping to a dangerous, low register, "while you tried to tear mine apart. You let me hit my own father. You manipulated my love for you, and you turned me into a monster."
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Sophia sneered, realizing that denial was no longer an option. She crossed her arms, her face twisting into an expression of utter contempt. "Fine. You know what? You're right. I did it. I drained the accounts, and I staged the attack. And you know what else, Ethan? You deserved every second of it. You're pathetic. You're a spineless mama's boy who couldn't protect his wife if his life depended on it."
She turned toward the stairs, heading briskly toward the master bedroom. "I’m going upstairs to pack my things. Don't bother calling a lawyer—I'll have mine call yours by morning."
