Chapter 2 - The Audit of Lies
The recovery suite on the penthouse floor of Saint Aurelia was more like a luxury apartment than a hospital room. It had panoramic views of the city skyline, a private kitchen, and a state-of-the-art monitoring station that allowed me to see Liam and Chloe’s vitals on a large screen beside my bed.
It had been five days since the confrontation in the NICU. My body was healing, the physical pain of the surgery slowly fading into a dull ache, but my mind was sharper than it had been in years.
Marcus Crane, my grandfather's chief financial investigator, sat at the small dining table in the corner of the suite, surrounded by boxes of financial ledgers and three active laptops. Marcus was a man who saw the world in numbers, and right now, the numbers were telling a very dark story.
"It’s worse than we thought, Audrey," Marcus said, rubbing his temple as he looked at a spreadsheet. "Dominic didn't just empty the joint savings account. He’s been systematically siphoning money from your family’s private trust for the past eighteen months."
I sat up in bed, my heart sinking. "How? The trust was locked. It required my signature for any withdrawal over ten thousand dollars."
"He forged your signature, Audrey," Marcus said, sliding a document across the bed. "And he didn't do it alone. He had help from a senior loan officer at State Alliance Bank—a man named Robert Chen, who happens to be Natalie’s brother."
I stared at the signature on the document. It was a near-perfect replication of my handwriting, but the date on the transfer was the day I had been rushed to the hospital in preterm labor, completely unconscious in the back of an ambulance.
"He took three hundred thousand dollars from my trust while I was fighting for my life," I whispered, a cold, hard anger settling into my chest.
"Yes," Marcus said. "And he used that money to pay off the debts of his medical supply company, which was actually on the brink of bankruptcy. He also used it to put a down payment on a luxury penthouse in downtown Chicago—a penthouse he registered solely in Natalie’s name."
The door to the suite opened, and my grandfather walked in, followed by Dr. Higgins, the lead neonatologist.
"How are my great-grandchildren doing today, Doctor?" Arthur asked, his eyes immediately going to the monitor screen beside my bed.
"They are doing remarkably well, Mr. Pendelton," Dr. Higgins smiled. "Liam is off the ventilator and on a high-flow nasal cannula. His lungs are expanding beautifully. Chloe’s jaundice has cleared, and we’re starting her on small tube-feedings of breast milk today. They are fighters."
I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding, looking at the tiny, perfect faces on the screen. "Thank god."
"Now, Alistair," Arthur said, turning to his attorney, who had also entered the room. "What is the status of the legal filings?"
Alistair opened his leather briefcase, pulling out a thick stack of blue-bound legal documents. "We’ve filed for a temporary emergency restraining order against Dominic and Natalie. It has been approved. They cannot come within five hundred feet of Audrey, the babies, or this hospital."
"And the divorce papers?" I asked.
"We’ve filed a motion to vacate the agreement you signed," Alistair said, a confident smile on his face. "We’ve submitted the medical reports from your admission, proving you were under the influence of heavy post-operative narcotics when Dominic forced you to sign. The judge has already signed the order. The divorce is back to square one, which means all of Dominic’s assets—including his company—are legally considered marital property subject to division."
"But he thinks he's safe," I said, looking at the financial report Marcus had compiled. "He thinks he has the money from my trust secured in Panama."
"He doesn't," Marcus laughed softly. "We contacted State Alliance Bank’s compliance department this morning. When we showed them the forensic proof of the forgery, they immediately suspended Robert Chen and placed a administrative freeze on the Panama transfer. The three hundred thousand dollars is currently locked in a holding account. Dominic can't touch a single dime of it."
My grandfather sat on the edge of my bed, taking my hand. "Audrey, I know you wanted to live a quiet life. I know you married Dominic because you believed he loved you for who you were, not what you had. But the man is a parasite. He needs to be removed from your life, completely and permanently."
May you like
"I know, Grandfather," I said, looking at the city skyline. "And I don't want to just divorce him. I want him to experience exactly what he tried to do to me. I want him to know what it feels like to have absolutely nothing."
"Good," Arthur smiled, his gray eyes flashing with a dangerous, proud light. "Because the Pendelton family does not retreat. We conquer. Now, let’s begin the next phase."
