Chapter 3 - The Empty Vault
Daniel stumbled clumsily backward until he hit the heavy antique china cabinet.
His mother let out a small, highly terrified gasp as the expensive plates rattled loudly.
"You absolutely cannot just buy a private firm and illegally fire the lead director without any cause!" Daniel shouted frantically.
Thomas casually buttoned his expensive navy coat, completely unbothered by my husband's pathetic, screaming meltdown.
"I am the absolute majority shareholder, and secretly embezzling company funds is a highly viable cause for immediate termination," Thomas stated calmly.
Walter turned to his sweating son with a look of profound, sickening horror.
"Daniel, what on earth is he talking about?" Walter demanded angrily.
I crossed my arms firmly, finally letting the dark pieces of my own private financial investigation fall perfectly into place.
"He is talking about the missing money, Walter," I said, stepping confidently forward.
I looked directly into Daniel's wildly panicked, sweating face.
"I checked Brooke's private college savings account yesterday afternoon because I wanted to generously deposit a massive bonus," I revealed.
Brooke leaned entirely forward, her teenage angst entirely replaced by genuine, terrifying fear.
"The massive account was completely empty, Brooke," I told her softly.
Thick tears immediately filled my stepdaughter's eyes as she looked at the father she had blindly idolized.
"You completely stole my entire future?" Brooke sobbed uncontrollably.
Daniel desperately tried to cautiously approach his daughter, holding his hands up in a pathetic, placating gesture.
"Sweetheart, it was just a temporary, highly secure loan for a major real estate investment," he lied incredibly smoothly.
"It was absolutely not an investment," I corrected him loudly for the entire room to hear.
I quickly pulled a folded, highly classified bank statement from my purse and tossed it aggressively onto the dining table.
"You secretly wired over two hundred thousand dollars to an anonymous offshore account in the Cayman Islands over the last four months."
Elaine practically collapsed entirely into her dining chair, completely humiliated in front of her high-society guests.
"Daniel, please honestly tell me this is a horrible, massive misunderstanding," Elaine pleaded with her ruined son.
Daniel glared directly at me with pure, unadulterated, blinding hatred.
"You have been secretly, illegally spying on me this entire time!" he accused loudly.
"I am an elite professional investigator, Daniel, finding hidden secrets is literally what people pay me millions of dollars to do," I replied coldly.
Thomas placed a highly gentle hand on his daughter Lily's shoulder and guided his children toward the front door.
"I think we have completely overstayed our welcome, Rachel," Thomas said politely.
"My heavily armed private security team is waiting outside to safely escort you to a luxury hotel whenever you are absolutely ready."
I nodded respectfully, entirely finished with playing the obedient, completely invisible wife to a monster.
I turned quickly toward the hallway closet to grab my heavy winter coat and successfully leave this toxic family forever.
Daniel suddenly rushed aggressively past me and completely blocked the front door with his entire body.
"You are absolutely not going anywhere with that arrogant billionaire, Rachel," Daniel hissed maliciously.
May you like
He quickly pulled a heavy, metallic object from his suit jacket pocket and pointed it directly at my chest.
"Because if you try to walk out that door, I am going to show everyone what a true, terrifying crisis actually looks like."
