Chapter 13 - The Final Truth
"You think I'm the mastermind, Maya?" Helen laughed coldly as the officer forced her hands behind her back, her voice dripping with venom. "Your father knew about the embezzlement from day one. He’s the one who spent the money on his gambling debts."
Maya staggered backward, the words hitting her like a physical blow. She turned her head in absolute disbelief toward her brother Liam, who stood frozen with wide, horrified eyes.
"That's a lie," Liam stammered, looking frantically between his mother and the police officers. "Dad didn't even know what a spreadsheet looked like!"
"Ask him about his offshore accounts in Panama," Helen sneered, being guided backward toward the waiting patrol car. "I took the fall for him for twenty years. I just wanted my share before the house of cards came crashing down."
The police officers didn't wait for further commentary, pushing Helen into the back of the cruiser and slamming the door shut.
Maya stood paralyzed on the damp tarmac, the howling wind whipping her hair across her face. The sprawling financial conspiracy wasn't just a betrayal by her mother; it was a generational rot that went straight to the heart of her entire family. Every single person she had tried to protect, every sacrifice she had made, had been built upon a foundation of absolute deception.
Liam dropped the stack of bank statements into a puddle, his hands shaking uncontrollably as he covered his face. "She's lying. She has to be lying."
"Check the primary server logs," Maya said, her voice eerily calm as a cold numbness settled over her chest. "Marcus downloaded the master files. We can trace every single transaction right now."
Maya unlocked her phone, pulling up the master database that Marcus had attempted to steal at the library. She tapped the folder labeled Family Trust - Primary Holdings, scrolling down to the beneficiary signatures listed on the original incorporation papers from ten years ago.
May you like
There, clear as day, was her father Arthur’s signature alongside her uncle's—proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that her father hadn't been an innocent victim of her mother's scheme. He was the primary beneficiary of the entire criminal enterprise from the very beginning.
---
