Chapter 2: The House of Cards
The color drained from Julian’s face as he scrambled to pick up the paper. It wasn't a bank statement. It was a forensic audit of the Vane Family Holdings—Julian’s company.
"What is this?" he stammered, his bravado slipping.
"It’s proof that you’ve been embezzling from the pension fund for three years," Elena said, leaning back. "I’ve been the one signing off on the audits, Julian. I just never bothered to mention that I wasn't signing the fake ones you gave me. I was sending the real ones to the SEC."
Beatrice lunged forward, her face contorted in rage. "You little snake! You destroyed your own future!"
"My future?" Elena laughed, a dry, humorless sound. "Beatrice, you’ve been living on a credit line I guaranteed for the last eighteen months. Do you want to see what happens to your mansion when I pull the plug?"
The silence that followed was absolute. Julian looked at the monitor next to the bed, the rhythm of his own heart suddenly feeling irregular. He realized, with a sickening jolt, that he hadn't been hunting his wife; she had been corralling him into a kill box.
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"But that doesn't matter," Julian said, trying to regain his footing, his voice shaking. "We still have the leverage. We still have the family name."
"You don't," Elena corrected, her gaze shifting to the twins. "And you really don't want to challenge me on the custody issue. Because the judge is going to be very interested in the biological reality of these children."
