Chapter 6 - The Embezzlement Trap
I took the private elevator down to the grand lobby, flanked by two towering security personnel.
Claire was pacing frantically across the marble floor, her previous arrogance entirely stripped away.
Her oversized sunglasses were gone, revealing mascara-stained cheeks and red, swollen eyes.
When the elevator doors parted, she rushed toward me, but the guards immediately blocked her path.
"Daniel, please," she begged, her voice trembling with genuine terror.
"They set his bail at two million dollars, you have to help us, you're his family."
I stared at her, feeling absolutely nothing but cold resolve.
"He kicked my daughter out into a blizzard, Claire," I said quietly, the words cutting through the cavernous lobby.
"He embezzled four million dollars from my company, and you stood by and laughed while he called me a loser."
"I am not your family anymore, and I am certainly not his."
I turned on my heel, ready to walk away and let the legal system grind them into dust.
"Wait!" Claire screamed, her voice echoing shrilly off the marble walls, drawing the attention of passing employees.
She reached into her expensive designer handbag with shaking hands.
"You can't abandon me, Daniel, you literally can't leave me out in the cold."
She pulled out a small, crumpled piece of paper and slammed it against the security guard's chest, demanding he hand it to me.
I took the paper, unfolded it, and looked at the letterhead from a prominent local medical clinic.
It was a positive pregnancy test result, dated just two days before Christmas.
"I'm pregnant, Daniel," she declared, a desperate, triumphant smirk breaking through her tears.
"You can fire my family, you can arrest my father, but you cannot divorce a pregnant woman in this state without paying astronomical child support."
She crossed her arms, convinced she had just played the ultimate trump card to secure my wealth.
"You are going to buy me a new house, pay my father's bail, and maintain my lifestyle, or I will ruin you in family court."
The lobby went dead silent, the security guards averting their eyes uncomfortably.
I looked at the medical document carefully, noting the dates and the physician's signature.
A sudden, chilling realization washed over me as I calculated the timeline in my head.
I had spent the last three months working out of state on a massive commercial development in Indiana.
I folded the paper neatly and slipped it into my tailored suit pocket.
"We will see what the lawyers have to say about this, Claire," I said before walking back into the elevator.
May you like
As the doors closed, I pulled out my phone and dialed my private investigator.
"I need you to pull the security footage for my home from the last ninety days," I commanded.
