Chapter 3

Time seemed to freeze. The only sound in the living room was the faint hum of the air conditioning.

Leo's eyes drilled into me. His warning was glaringly obvious. His hands rested on his knees, balled into fists so tight his veins bulged.

Bella stood behind me. She quietly clutched the hem of my shirt with an iron grip.

Across the coffee table, Davis put down his pen. He watched me calmly through his glasses. He did not push. He just waited.

I set my mug down. The clink of ceramic on glass was like a switch flipping.

I looked up, met Leo's vicious glare, and gave him a small smile.

Then, I turned to the agent. "Agent Davis, what my husband just told you is a lie."

My voice was quiet. But every word smacked Leo right in the face. All the color drained from his skin.

"Ada, what the hell are you talking about?!" he snapped. He leaped to his feet. His voice cracked with panic. "Gentlemen, please do not listen to her. My wife is just a little emotionally unstable lately."

"I am perfectly stable," I cut in. I held his gaze coolly. "Leo says his life is just work and family with no inappropriate connections. He is lying to the federal government."

"What?!" Leo was downright hysterical. He wanted to lunge at me. But with the feds sitting right there, all he could do was stand in place and point a shaking finger at me.

Davis exchanged a glance with his younger partner. Neither of them tried to stop me. "Please continue, ma'am," Davis said.

I ignored Leo completely.

I stood up, walked into the study, and brought out a stack of ledgers wrapped in brown paper. Twenty notebooks in total.

I dropped them heavily onto the coffee table with a loud thud.

Leo's eyes went wide with terror. He looked like he had just seen a ghost. "Ada! Are you insane? What are you doing?"

He lunged forward to grab them. I took a step back. Bella immediately jumped in front of me.

"Dad, do not touch her!" she shouted.

"Bella, move!" Leo's eyes were bloodshot like a cornered animal.

"Mr. Hale, I need you to calm down," Davis intervened. His tone was polite but carried undeniable authority.

Leo froze. He looked back at the agents.

His lips trembled as he tried to force a laugh, but it sounded like a choked sob. "Officers, it is a huge misunderstanding.

"This is just a little joke between my wife and me. We write these things for fun."

I tuned him out. I pulled the top ledger from the stack and flipped it open.

I read it out loud. "November eighth, 2002. Golden Age Apartments. Rent is 1,200 dollars. First month and security deposit. Memo says apartment for Iris."

Leo swayed on his feet like he had taken a punch to the gut.

I went on, "March twelfth, 2003. Mercy General Hospital. Medical bills are 1,500 dollars. Postpartum care is 700 bucks. Memo says Iris gave birth to a baby boy."

Leo was breathing heavily now. He glared at me with a terrifying mix of pure hatred and sheer terror.

"September first, 2008. Lincoln Elementary. Private school tuition is thirty thousand dollars. Memo says Ryan's tuition."

"August twenty eighth, 2014. Oceanview Condos. Down payment is two hundred and sixty thousand dollars. Memo says house for Iris, deed under her name."

I read them out, line by line.

My voice was completely steady. I sounded like I was reading a corporate report that had nothing to do with me.

The living room was dead silent.

Leo went from explosive rage to panic, and finally to utter defeat. It was like all the energy had been siphoned out of him. He collapsed onto the couch. He looked gray and broken.

Bella kept crying quietly. She held a death grip on my hand.

I finished reading the last entry and snapped the ledger shut.

I looked up at the two investigators. Their jaws were practically on the floor.

I said, "Agent Davis, these are just a fraction of the expenses my husband spent over the last twenty years. They went to his mistress, Iris, and their illegitimate son, Ryan.

"Every single line item is backed by bank statements or credit card records."

I slid the massive stack of notebooks across the table. "Twenty years of infidelity. He kept a mistress and a bastard son who is barely a year younger than my daughter.

"He used our joint marital assets to fund a lavish lifestyle for them. And he just sat there and told the government that he has zero inappropriate connections."

I paused and looked right into Davis's stern face. "Tell me, does that count as defrauding a federal investigation?"

Leo's head snapped up. His bloodshot eyes begged me. "Ada, please. I was wrong. I was so wrong. Stop talking, I am begging you. For Bella's sake, please."

I let out a dry laugh. "Twenty years, Leo. And you are only thinking about Bella now?"

I pulled a freshly printed document from my purse.

I tossed it on top of the ledgers, right next to my ID. "My lawyer has already filed for divorce and asset division. I am taking him for everything he has.

"And I am suing to recover every single dime he illegally gifted to his little homewrecker over the past two decades."

Finally, I looked back at the stunned investigators.

I delivered the final blow. "Oh, by the way. I forgot to mention something. That kid who needs the security clearance? Ryan Hale? Yeah. That is the bastard son I was just telling you about."

Dead silence fell over the living room. It was like someone hit the pause button.

The two federal investigators dropped their bureaucratic masks, looking completely shocked.

Davis pushed up his glasses, his eyes darting between me, Leo, and the stack of ledgers. His younger colleague just sat there with his jaw practically on the floor.

"Ada! You're making this up!" Leo let out a feral roar.

He shot up from the couch, his eyes bloodshot, looking ready to lunge across the room and tear me apart. "She's crazy! Officers, don't listen to her.

"She's just trying to get back at me. Our marriage is falling apart, and this is her revenge!"

His voice was shrill, reeking of desperate, final panic.

I didn't move. I didn't even blink.

Davis stood up. Ignoring a frantic Leo, he walked to the coffee table, picked up the top ledger, and flipped it open.

His eyes tracked the pages for a few seconds. Then he snapped it shut and looked at me.

His tone was dead serious. "Mrs. Hale, your statements and these materials point to a very severe situation."

He grabbed my ID and the lawsuit documents from the table. "We need to take these with us as key evidence. We'll report this to the agency and verify everything."

Leo was in full panic mode.

He stumbled over to Davis. "Sir, please, don't take those. I'm begging you. This is all a huge misunderstanding. It's just a private family matter. Ryan is an innocent kid!"

Davis frowned and stepped back to dodge his grasping hands. "Mr. Hale, calm down. We're conducting an official clearance review, not mediating a domestic dispute.

"We will investigate thoroughly to determine if you've deliberately deceived the federal government."