Chapter 3 - The Secret Study
I helped Elena sit comfortably in the leather armchair.
My private study smelled of aged oak and expensive paper.
Bright afternoon sunlight poured through the tall leaded windows.
I fetched a glass of cool water for my wife.
Her hands still trembled as she took the glass.
She drank slowly, trying to calm her racing heart rate.
"Are you feeling any physical contractions, Elena?" I asked.
"No, just severe emotional stress and fatigue," she whispered.
"She forced me to scrub floors for three hours."
"She said I was lazy and living off charity."
I knelt beside her chair, kissing her cold forehead.
"You will never have to wash her feet again."
"I promise you on my life, this ends today."
I stood up and walked over to my mahogany desk.
My personal laptop screen was flashing a red security alert.
A priority notification from our primary corporate bank appeared.
An unauthorized wire transfer attempt was flagged twenty minutes ago.
My brows pulled together into a deep, dark frown.
I opened my heavy leather document folder on the desk.
Inside lay three months of certified corporate bank statements.
I scanned through the printed wire transaction ledgers quickly.
Repeated massive sums of money had been transferred out.
All funds were routed into obscure offshore shell companies.
Six hundred eighty-four thousand dollars were completely gone.
My eyes locked onto the bottom authorization signature line.
The signature was written in bold, familiar cursive ink.
It was the legal signature of my brother, Lucas Carter.
My blood ran completely ice cold in one single second.
Lucas had been systematically looting our primary family trust.
And my mother had been covering up his financial crimes.
They used my corporate authority while I was working late.
They treated my pregnant wife like a disgraced household servant.
While they secretly stole nearly seven hundred thousand dollars cash.
I clutched the paper statement until my knuckles turned white.
The sheer monstrous depth of their betrayal was fully exposed.
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Heavy footsteps echoed in the hallway outside my study door.
📖 Chapter 4 reveals the moment Lucas and Margaret enter the study to face my lethal confrontation. Read on right now. 👇
