Chapter 7 - THE HOUSE OF LIES
The court granted me temporary full custody.
My wife was prohibited from contacting the children.
The judge ordered a complete financial audit.
And investigators returned to our home.
This time, they searched everything.
Every drawer.
Every cabinet.
Every device.
Every locked box.
They found hidden documents behind a false wall in my wife's office.
They found burner phones.
They found encrypted storage drives.
They found passports.
And they found something else.
A second ledger.
This one was handwritten.
Unlike the digital spreadsheet, it contained names.
People.
Amounts.
Debts.
At the top of the first page was one sentence:
Everyone has a price.
I read the list.
Some names were familiar.
A banker.
A property developer.
A private investigator.
A lawyer.
A former employee.
Then I saw the final name.
My mother.
I froze.
"Why is my mother here?"
Reed looked at the page.
"We don't know."
I called her immediately.
She answered after the third ring.
"Michael?"
"Mom, did you ever speak to my wife about Dad's trust?"
Silence.
Then:
"Where did you hear that?"
My heart sank.
"You knew?"
"I knew something existed."
"What?"
She sighed.
"Your father told me before he died."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because he made me promise."
I sat down.
"Mom, please."
She was quiet for a long time.
Then she said:
"Your father was afraid of someone."
"Who?"
"I don't know."
"Mom."
"I swear."
She paused.
"But he told me one thing."
"What?"
"If anyone ever tries to control your finances, don't fight them alone."
I looked at the ledger.
"Did Dad know my wife?"
"No."
"Then why would he say that?"
"I don't know."
After the call, Detective Reed entered.
He had another folder.
"We found the person your father was afraid of."
I looked up.
"Who?"
He placed a photograph on the table.
An elderly man.
My wife's attorney.
I recognized him immediately.
He had been representing her family for years.
"What does he have to do with my father?"
"Everything."
Reed explained.
Years ago, my father had discovered that the attorney had been involved in a series of fraudulent trust transfers.
My father confronted him.
Then the man disappeared from my father's business life.
But he never disappeared completely.
He had remained connected to my wife's family.
And apparently, he had been waiting.
Waiting for access to the trust.
My wife wasn't the mastermind.
Neither was Ryan.
They were pieces.
The real architect had been watching our family for decades.
May you like
His name was Victor Hale.
And he had just requested a meeting with me.
