Chapter 6 - Uncovering the Rot
The next morning, the reality of what we had done settled over the house.
I woke up early and found Linda sitting at the kitchen island, staring at the exact spot where Ethan's blueprints had been the night before. I poured two cups of coffee and sat beside her.
"Are you okay?" I asked softly.
She took a sip of her coffee and nodded slowly. "It hurts, Tom. It hurts more than I can say. But... I also feel like I can finally breathe."
At 9:00 AM sharp, we were sitting in Mark Ellison's downtown office.
Mark was a sharp, no-nonsense lawyer who had helped me incorporate my business decades ago. He slid a stack of freshly printed documents across the polished boardroom table.
"I've frozen his corporate credit cards," Mark said, adjusting his glasses. "I also revoked his access to the joint emergency account you set up for him last year."
Mark hesitated, looking down at a separate folder.
"What is it, Mark?" I asked, sensing his unease.
"When I was reviewing the accounts this morning to execute the freeze, I found something. I did a deep dive into the company's petty cash and Ethan's expense reports over the last six months."
He opened the folder and pushed several highlighted bank statements toward me.
"Ethan hasn't just been planning to take the house, Tom. He's been quietly siphoning funds from the commercial accounts. Small amounts. Disguised as vendor payments. It adds up to nearly forty thousand dollars. He's been using it to pay off Ashley's private credit card debt."
Linda gasped, covering her mouth with her hand.
I stared at the numbers. The betrayal I felt the night before multiplied a hundredfold. My son wasn't just entitled and greedy. He was a thief. He was stealing from the very legacy I was building for him.
"Do you want to press charges?" Mark asked gently.
I looked at Linda. The pain in her eyes was agonizing.
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"No," I said quietly. "I won't send my son to jail. But he is cut off. Completely. Finalize the trust documents, Mark. Everything goes to Linda, and upon her passing, it goes to the St. Jude Children's Hospital."
I signed the papers with a heavy hand, severing my son from my life's work in blue ink.
