PART 3: The Secret Investigation
The entire backyard fell into an absolute, suffocating silence.
Even the splashing of the kids in the deep end of the pool seemed to stop as everyone stared at Daniel.
Daniel flipped open his leather wallet, revealing a gleaming silver badge alongside a official identification card.
Ryan stared at the credential, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water.
“What is this nonsense?” Ryan demanded, though his voice lacked its previous booming confidence.
“You’re supposed to be her fake boyfriend!”
“When Sarah reached out to my talent agency listing, I recognized your name immediately from our active file,” Daniel explained smoothly.
“I accepted the personal request today because I wanted to deliver a message to you in person, Ryan.”
Daniel turned his sharp, piercing gaze directly toward Lucille, who had taken two trembling steps backward.
“Lucille Vance—formerly known as Lucille Higgins,” Daniel said, his voice echoing clearly across the patio.
“For the past eight months, you’ve been under federal investigation for systematic embezzlement at your previous firm.”
“You transferred over four hundred thousand dollars into offshore accounts before targeting Ryan as your next financial safety net.”
Lucille gasped, her hands flying up to cover her mouth as her body began to shake uncontrollably.
“That’s a lie!” she shrieked, her voice high-pitched and hysterical.
“Ryan, don’t listen to him! He’s lying! He’s trying to ruin us!”
“Is it a lie, Lucille?” Daniel asked, pulling a folded white document from his jacket pocket.
“Because the forensic audit on Ryan’s company accounts was completed late yesterday evening.”
“It appears you’ve already routed sixty thousand dollars from Ryan’s personal business line into your private shell company.”
Ryan snapped his head around to look at Lucille, his eyes wide with absolute, horrifying realization.
“Lucille… what is he talking about?” Ryan stammered, grabbing her shoulder firmly.
“Did you take money from my business account?”
Lucille violently shoved Ryan’s hand off her arm, her calm, glamorous facade completely shattering into ugly rage.
“Touch me again and I’ll ruin you!” she screamed, her face contorted with desperation.
“You stupid, arrogant old man!”
“You actually thought I was attracted to you?”
“You’re insecure, pathetic, and so easily manipulated that it took me less than a month to clean you out!”
She turned on her heel and sprinted frantically toward the driveway, her high heels clicking loudly against the concrete.
She ran out of the party screaming obscenities into her phone, leaving her designer bag abandoned on the lawn.
Ryan stood frozen on the patio, looking like a hollow shell of the man who had walked in an hour ago.
His mother stepped forward, setting her iced tea tray down with a heavy, satisfying thud.
“I told you, Ryan,” his mother said sternly, her eyes cold as she looked at her son.
“You traded a genuine, loving wife for a snake, and now you have lost everything.”
Ryan turned to look at me, his eyes brimming with desperate, shameful tears.
What was Ryan about to beg for in front of his entire family? Go to the next page for the thrilling final showdown!
