Chapter 2 - The Monday Morning Filing
The November wind bit through my jacket as I walked to my car, my hands steady on the steering wheel as I drove back to my condo in downtown Richmond.
My phone blew up before I hit the highway interchange.
Cheryl: Jacob, how could you speak to your mother like that? Family stands together!Brielle: You're being completely heartless. Paige is in pieces.Mom: Do not bother coming home for Thanksgiving. You made your choice.
I tapped the screen, set my phone on silent, and tossed it into the cup holder.
For thirty-three years, I had walked on eggshells to earn an ounce of the praise my sister received simply for existing.
I had accepted hand-me-down clothes, paid my own college tuition through night shifts at a lumber yard, and swallowed the bitter pill of being the invisible second son.
Now, the ledger was closed.
At 8:30 AM on Monday, I sat at my desk at the accounting firm on Cary Street, sipping hot black coffee while reviewing a corporate client's quarterly tax projections.
My desk phone chimed.
"Jake, line two," my receptionist announced. "A Marcus Vance is on the line. He says it’s personal."
My stomach tightened. I picked up the receiver and pressed the flashing green button. "Marcus?"
"Hey, Jake," Marcus's voice came through the line. He sounded exhausted, gravelly, and worn down by months of private agony. "Owen told me he ran into you at the bar on Friday."
"He did," I said quietly. "Marcus, I’m sorry. I confronted Paige at Sunday dinner yesterday. It blew up the entire family."
Marcus let out a long, heavy sigh that crackled through the receiver. "You didn't have to take that bullet for me, man. I was trying to keep things quiet so your dad’s heart wouldn't take another hit."
"My dad needed to know the truth, Marcus," I countered. "They were trying to shake me down for ten grand to fund her new lifestyle."
Marcus chuckled, but it was a dry, humorless sound devoid of any warmth.
"Ten grand? Jake, she doesn't need ten grand for furniture," Marcus said, his tone dropping into a deadly, serious register. "Paige emptied our joint money market account three weeks ago. Sixty-four thousand dollars, gone in one wire transfer."
I dropped my gold pen onto the desk.
"Sixty-four thousand?" I gasped. "Where did the money go?"
"She wired it directly into an LLC registered to Drew Miller," Marcus revealed. "The guy she was sleeping with. They’re trying to open a boutique wine bar in the Fan District."
My vision blurred with pure, unadulterated disbelief.
Paige hadn't just cheated on an honest man. She was bankrolling her lover's business with her marital assets, while crying poverty to our elderly parents and demanding my hard-earned savings.
May you like
"My attorney is filing the emergency asset freeze in Henrico County Circuit Court at ten o'clock today, Jake," Marcus added. "I wanted you to hear it from me first. It’s going to get very ugly."
"Let it burn, Marcus," I said. "Send me the case number."
