Chapter 3

Claire met me at a coffee shop downtown.

"If we can prove she embezzled company funds, Ethan, we have massive leverage. Asset division, alimony, restitution—we'll gut her."

I stirred my coffee. "How do I find out?"

Claire looked at me, sharp and objective.

"First, secure any records you can legally access. The complete ledgers will be subpoenaed by the lawyers and corporate counsel later."

I thought of Daniel's Instagram feed.

Starting six months ago, the things he posted had gotten increasingly expensive.

The floor-to-ceiling windows of a new luxury apartment. The steering wheel of a white Porsche SUV. A Rolex. Bags and bags of designer kids' clothes.

He had no job and had just gone through a divorce. Where was the money coming from?

"Daniel told us," I said quietly, "that he walked away from his divorce with practically nothing."

Claire nodded. "Then it's worth digging into."

When I got home, I scoured Daniel's public Instagram posts.

I took screenshots of everything—the backgrounds, the license plates, the brand logos on the shopping bags.

Then, I called Maya Reyes.

Maya was a member of the finance team I had personally trained. When I left to take care of Lucas, she took over my workload.

She answered, dropping her voice to a whisper. "Ethan?"

"I need you to confirm something for me," I said directly.

"Has the company made any unusual payments related to Daniel recently?"

Silence on the other end for a few seconds.

When Maya spoke, her voice was even lower.

"I've seen the flags, Ethan, but you know I can't pull the internal ledgers for you."

"Do you have a ballpark figure?" I knew my gut was right.

"It's a lot. Probably close to six hundred thousand dollars. Legal will have to verify the exact amount."

Having the confirmation I needed, I thanked her and hung up.

That night, I logged into the company's financial system using my old admin credentials.

Even though I had resigned, I still frequently helped Victoria sort out complex operational issues. My access had never been revoked.

I exported every record I legally had clearance to view and handed them over to Claire the next day to launch a formal investigation.

From the day Daniel returned to Seattle until now, the unauthorized payments totaled $598,000. Every single transaction was crystal clear.

The first was a $325,000 down payment on an apartment. The second was $75,000 for a luxury SUV.

The rest went to designer kids' clothes, elite early education programs, a nanny, luxury goods, and daily living expenses.

Yet, just last week, when I told Victoria that Lucas's specialized cardiac meds and treatments weren't fully covered by insurance and would cost us about $20,000 out of pocket...

She had frowned and said:

"That's too expensive. Can't we just use the stuff covered by insurance? It's the same thing."

And on that exact same day, Daniel had posted a picture of a brand-new designer bag on Instagram.

I packed the documents away and waited for Victoria to come home.

She didn't walk in until dawn, reeking of booze.

Seeing me sitting in the living room, she froze.

"You're still up?"

"Six hundred grand is missing from the operating accounts," I said flatly.

Victoria's expression instantly shattered.

"The apartment. The Porsche. The Rolex."

Victoria answered with dead silence.

"Explain," I said, my voice dangerously low.

"Ethan, Daniel just went through a brutal divorce. It's so hard raising a kid alone. I was just trying to help him get on his feet..."

I cut her off.

"Help him get on his feet with a three-hundred-thousand-dollar down payment? A seventy-five-grand SUV?"

"Victoria, during our first year, we hauled samples onto public buses ourselves just to save five hundred bucks on shipping. And now you hand over this kind of money to another man without even blinking?"

She opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

I slid the printed list of transactions across the table.

"You have seven days to put it back. Or corporate legal gets the file. As for the cooked books, I'll let the investigators decide what to do with you."

Her eyes went wide.

"Are you crazy? You're going to ruin me over money?"

I looked right into her eyes. "I don't care about the money. I care about my son."

She stood there, frozen like a statue.

Silent.

Always like this. Whenever she didn't have an answer, she just shut down.

I stared at her and repeated it once more: "Seven days. If the money isn't back in the account, I'll see you in court."

I turned and walked back to the bedroom.

After I closed the door, I heard her collapse heavily onto the living room sofa, followed by the click of a lighter.

I walked into the nursery and looked at Lucas's sleeping face.

Suddenly, I realized none of that money mattered.

I only wanted one thing now: to take my son and leave.

And Victoria? She was going to pay the price.