Chapter 3
"Listen up. I saw the divorce papers between you and Desmond. 250 thousand dollars is plenty, if you ask me. You're just a girl with nothing—no family, no parents..." Emilia said.
"Emilia—" I said, steady.
"Don't interrupt me. When you married into the Cardenas family, you only had a single suitcase. We fed you, clothed you, took care of you for six years, and now you want to leave and still expect a payout?"
"Are you done?"
She was momentarily speechless.
"Now it's my turn," I said.
I walked over to the window. "First, when I married into the Cardenas family, yeah, I only had one suitcase.
"But your son married me while living in the place I paid for, eating the food I bought, and wearing clothes I picked out with my own salary.
"You say you supported me for six years? Why don't you check where your son's company got its first dollar?"
There was silence on the other end.
I continued, "Second, let me count up everything you've ever given me in six years. First year, a scarf from a store sale—price tag still hanging.
"Third year, a gift worth with 200 dollars. Fifth year, my birthday, a text: 'Happy Birthday.' Altogether, not even 300 dollars. Tell me, what do you want me to return?"
"You—" she snapped.
"Third, those gold bangles, jade pieces, and pearl necklaces? Not a single one ever made it to me. They're all still locked up in your cabinet. Now you want me to pay you back? Tell me, which one?"
Emilia's voice changed.
She went from all righteous and loud to suddenly shaky and uncertain. "Don't try to talk circles around me. Macey's the one who truly belongs in the Cardenas family.
"She should've been the one to marry in from the start. You, some country girl, fooled my son for six years by pretending to be pitiful, you—"
"Emilia," I interrupted. "Call me a country girl, a liar, whatever suits you. But remember one thing," I said.
"What?" she demanded.
"What your son and Macey did? Legally, that's called bigamy," I said.
There was a sudden silence on the other end.
"That... that's a lie," Emilia stammered.
"They got married in Montavia six years ago. If you don't believe me, ask him yourself," I said.
I hung up.
I blocked Emilia's number too.
Mason brought up breakfast and shot me a knowing glance.
"Ms. Murphy, don't be upset," Mason said.
"I'm not upset, Mason," I replied.
I took a sip of my oatmeal.
"Honestly, I just find it funny. The whole family's taking turns putting on an act, each one more self-righteous than the last," I said.
After breakfast, I called Soren.
"Soren, Emilia called and gave me an earful. I recorded the whole thing," I said.
"Save it. We'll need it," he replied.
"One more thing."
"Go ahead."
"Desmond went to Montavia six years ago. Can you check if, besides tourism, he handled any paperwork or official business?"
Soren hesitated and said, "Ms. Murphy, you suspect...?"
"I'm not guessing. I'm sure," I replied.
Soren arrived that afternoon.
He set a black briefcase on the coffee table, opened it up, revealing a thick stack of documents.
"Ms. Murphy, take a look at these first." Soren flipped to the third page. "Desmond owns two mansions.
"One was transferred to his college roommate, Ethan, last November—he's holding it under his name. The other was moved to his mother, Emmaline, just last month."
"When did he start transferring them?" I asked.
"Two years ago."
That was the year Macey posted on her feed, announcing she was coming back.
"What about the company shares?" I asked.
Soren flipped through a few more pages.
"At first, you and Desmond each owned half of Asteron Technologies. But after eleven rounds of stock offerings, he diluted your stake down to just three percent," he said.
"Three percent," I confirmed.
"Yeah. Each time, it was just a tiny bit. Looked normal if you only saw one, but put together, it was clearly a planned move," Soren explained.
"Anything else?" I asked.
"There was a 7 million dollars transfer from the company account last March. It went to an offshore account, registered under Macey's name," Soren said.
I spent hours on my knees outside the study, begging for that 8 million dollars—right up until ten at night.
Desmond ended up wiring 7 million dollars straight to Macey.
And left just 1 million dollars sitting in the account, like it was spare change.
I put the page down.
"Soren, is this enough to nail him?" I asked.
Soren pushed up his glasses. "Ms. Murphy, this is enough to take him to court over assets.
"But that's a scratch. It won't really hit him where it hurts. If he hires a sharp lawyer, he'll settle with you and walk away like nothing happened."
"So how do I really hit him where it hurts?" I asked.
Soren flipped to the last page of the stack.
He turned the page around and slid it across the table to me.
It was the Montavia Marriage Registration Record.
It showed Desmond and Macey got married on March 17th, six years ago.
I just kept staring at those words, unable to look away.