Chapter 3 - The Woman Beside the SafeThe betrayal inside Audrey's home was bigger than DominicThe video continued.
Dominic knelt before the safe.
Behind him stood Victoria.
My mother-in-law.
She was not supposed to have a key.
Yet Dominic handed her one.
She opened the safe.
I watched my husband's hands disappear inside it.
He removed envelopes.
Files.
A small black box.
Victoria examined one of the folders.
Then she smiled.
I felt sick.
“What is that?” I whispered.
Dad answered quietly.
“Your mother left it to you.”
I looked at him.
“My mother?”
Dad nodded.
“She wanted you to have it when you were ready.”
My mother had died when I was twenty-one.
She had always been the quiet half of our family.
Patient.
Observant.
Impossible to fool.
She had left behind very little that I knew about.
At least, that was what I thought.
Elena paused the video.
“What concerns me is the timing.”
“What timing?”
“Your husband didn't take random documents.”
She enlarged the image.
“He selected specific folders.”
One contained information about trusts.
One contained property holdings.
One contained my father's business interests.
Another held my mother's estate records.
I stared at the screen.
“Why would Victoria need those?”
Elena looked at me.
“That's what we're trying to find out.”
My father remained silent.
I knew that expression.
He had become a general again without putting on the uniform.
Calm.
Controlled.
Dangerously focused.
“Dad.”
“Yes?”
“Tell me everything.”
He didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he walked to the window.
“Your mother believed Dominic was hiding something from you.”
My heart sank.
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
“You let me marry him?”
“I warned you.”
“You told me to learn who he was.”
“I did.”
“That isn't the same as telling me what you knew.”
Dad turned around.
“Because suspicion is not proof.”
I looked away.
He continued.
“When you told me Dominic had changed after the wedding, I had people quietly review his business.”
“What did they find?”
“Debt.”
“How much?”
“Enough to make me concerned.”
I swallowed.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I wanted you to make your own decision.”
I almost laughed.
“I'm making it now.”
“Yes.”
My phone rang.
Dominic.
This time I answered.
He sounded angry.
“Where are you?”
“Safe.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means I'm not coming home.”
Silence.
Then:
“Audrey, you're exhausted. You're emotional.”
“No.”
“Listen to me.”
“No, you listen.”
My voice surprised me.
“Five days after surgery, you left me outside a hospital with our newborn and twelve dollars.”
“It was one ride.”
“You used my car to take your mother to lunch.”
“I needed the vehicle.”
“You told me to clean the house because investors were coming.”
He exhaled.
“You're making this bigger than it is.”
“I'm not making anything bigger.”
I stared at the video.
“You did.”
He paused.
Then his voice softened.
“Come home.”
“No.”
“Audrey.”
“Don't call me again.”
I hung up.
My hands shook.
Dad looked at me.
“Good.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Good?”
“You told him the truth.”
The door opened again.
This time it was one of Dad's longtime legal advisers.
He placed another folder on the table.
“General, the preliminary audit is complete.”
I looked at him.
“What did you find?”
He glanced at Elena.
Then at me.
“Your husband's company has been using a shell entity to move money.”
“Whose money?”
“Your name appears on the account.”
My stomach dropped.
“I'm not involved in his company.”
“We know.”
“Then why is my name there?”
The adviser hesitated.
“Because someone created a digital identity profile using your credentials.”
Elena closed her eyes.
“Identity theft.”
Dad's voice was quiet.
“Possibly.”
I stared at the table.
Everything suddenly connected.
The fake signatures.
The loan applications.
The apartment.
The safe.
The money.
Dominic's sudden interest in family assets.
But then Elena said something that made my blood run cold.
“This isn't only about money.”
“What else?”
She opened a final file.
Inside was a photograph.
A restaurant.
Dominic.
Victoria.
And a man I had never seen before.
The date was two weeks before my wedding.
Elena pointed at the man.
“We traced him.”
“Who is he?”
“A private investigator.”
My pulse accelerated.
“Why was Dominic meeting a private investigator?”
Elena looked at my father.
“Because he wasn't investigating your family.”
She turned the photograph around.
“He was investigating you.”
I stared at the image.
“What?”
Elena nodded.
“He knew more about you before your wedding than you realize.”
The room went silent.
Then Dad reached for his phone.
“Get me the full report.”
The adviser nodded.
“And there is one more thing.”
Dad looked up.
“What?”
“The investigator didn't stop after the wedding.”
I felt a chill run through me.
“When did he stop?”
The adviser looked directly at me.
May you like
“He didn't.”
End of Chapter 3Someone had been following Audrey for two years.
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