Chapter 3 - The Family Confrontation
The heavy glass doors of the restaurant swung shut, cutting off Nadine's hysterics, leaving the banquet room in a suffocating, hostile silence. Derek Montgomery didn't wait for dessert; he quietly escorted his visibly disgusted parents out the side exit without uttering a single word to my family.
My father turned on me the instant the outer doors clicked shut, his face twisted in pure, venomous rage. He slammed both open palms against the dining table, rattling the silverware and knocking over an empty wine flute.
"Are you happy now, Claire?!" he roared, ignoring the staff members who were quietly hovering near the kitchen doors. "You humiliated this entire family in front of the most influential people in this town!"
"I didn't steal the money, Dad," I said, standing up slowly and collecting my purse from the chair. "Nadine humiliated herself by committing multiple felonies and bragging about them like a spoiled child."
Patricia rushed forward, grabbing my forearm with manic strength, her knuckles white and desperate. "You call that detective back right now and tell him you made a mistake! Tell him you gave her permission!"
I pulled my arm out of her grip, stepping back to create a deliberate boundary between us. "If I do that, Mother, I commit perjury and accessory to fraud after the fact, throwing away my entire career to protect a thief."
"She's your sister!" Patricia cried out, tears streaming down her carefully powdered wrinkles. "Sisters forgive each other! What kind of monster sends her own flesh and blood to jail over paper?!"
"Over one hundred and ten thousand dollars of paper," Dana interjected from across the table, holding her phone up proudly. "And for the record, Aunt Patricia, I just uploaded the full confession video to three separate secure servers."
Richard glared at Dana with murder in his eyes, but my cousin merely offered a sarcastic smile and slipped her phone into her clutch. Dana had endured Nadine's cruelty for years, and she wasn't about to let this moment slide.
"You're a parasite, Claire," Richard hissed, stepping closer until I could smell the stale bourbon on his breath. "You always were. You were always jealous of Nadine's charm, her beauty, her ability to be loved."
"If her charm requires stealing my identity to pay for flowers, she can keep it," I replied, refusing to give him the satisfaction of seeing me flinch. "And you better check your own mail tomorrow, Dad."
His eyes narrowed in sudden suspicion. "What are you talking about?"
"Nadine didn't just use my cards for catering and dresses," I stated calmly, pulling a folded legal document from my purse. "She transferred thirty-five thousand dollars directly into your failing logistics firm to cover your commercial lease arrears."
Richard froze, the defensive bluster evaporating from his posture in a fraction of a second. The deep creases on his forehead deepened as a cold sweat broke out across his hairline.
"You knew exactly where that money came from, didn't you?" I asked, watching his arrogant façade crumble into sheer terror. "That makes you an active beneficiary of grand larceny."
May you like
"Claire... no, listen to me," Richard stammered, his arrogant tone vanishing completely into pathetic bargaining. "I was going to pay it back. I just needed sixty days to close the new shipping contract."
"You had six months to tell me, Dad," I whispered, feeling the last lingering shred of childhood devotion completely sever inside my chest. "Instead, you told me to accept it as a wedding gift."
