Chapter 4 - THE FAMILY BETRAYAL
The ancestral family mansion looked smaller in the dim light of dawn, its manicured lawns masking the rot eating away at its foundation. We didn’t bother ringing the doorbell; Nathaniel’s legal team had already served the property seizure notice to the gates security an hour prior.
When we walked through the double front doors, my mother was sitting in the formal parlor, looking impeccably dressed despite the early hour, with Vanessa pacing frantically beside her.
“Evelyn!” my mother gasped, standing up so fast her teacup rattled against its saucer. “Thank God. You need to fix this disaster immediately. Adrian is beside himself, and the press is calling our phones off the hook.”
Vanessa stopped pacing, her eyes wide with a mixture of fury and fear. “You absolute psycho! You humiliated me in front of the entire city! Do you have any idea what people are saying about me?”
I walked slowly into the center of the room, my heels clicking sharply against the hardwood floor, stopping just a few feet away from them. Nathaniel remained near the doorway, a towering shadow cutting off any avenue of escape.
“I saved you the trouble of living a lie, Vanessa,” I said evenly. “Though I suppose you’ll need a new venue for your baby shower now that Adrian’s bank accounts have been frozen by a federal court order.”
The color drained entirely from my mother’s face. “Frozen? What are you talking about?”
“Don’t play stupid, Mom,” I said, pulling the financial dossier from my bag and tossing it onto the coffee table. “I know about the offshore accounts. I know you signed over the primary trust to fund Adrian’s tech startup. And I know Uncle Arthur is the anonymous buyer trying to snap up this house for pennies on the dollar.”
Vanessa let out a hysterical laugh, her hands flying to her stomach defensively. “You’re making things up! You’re just jealous because Adrian never loved you! He wants me, and he wants my child!”
“Your child?” I turned my gaze coldly onto my sister. “Are you even certain whose baby it is, Vanessa? Because Adrian’s text history with his executive assistant paints a very different picture of his fidelity.”
Vanessa stumbled backward, her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. “That’s a lie… Adrian would never—”
“Adrian would sell his own mother for a seat on the board of directors,” I interrupted, my voice sharp as glass. “And speaking of boards, Mom, your signature on these transfer papers constitutes corporate fraud and breach of fiduciary duty.”
My mother dropped back down into her armchair, trembling as she stared at the documents on the table. “Evelyn… we are family. We can work this out quietly. You can’t send your own mother to prison.”
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“My father built this empire with his bare hands,” I said, my voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. “And you tried to hand it over to a man who couldn’t even remain faithful through a wedding rehearsal. You aren’t my family anymore. You’re defendants.”
Before my mother could reply, heavy footsteps echoed in the foyer, and two uniformed police officers flanked by Nathaniel’s private security detail entered the parlor.
