Chapter 7 - The Family SecretMark couldn't move.
“Who?”
Ethan looked at him.
“Your mother.”
The room went completely silent.
Mark stared at his brother.
“Our mother died years ago.”
“I know.”
“She loved Dad.”
Ethan laughed bitterly.
“No. She hated him.”
Arthur stepped forward.
“Why?”
Ethan removed a photograph from his coat.
It showed their parents standing together at a charity gala.
But written on the back was a date.
And beneath it:
The night everything changed.
Ethan explained that their father had been secretly transferring company assets into a private trust.
Their mother discovered it.
She confronted him.
Then their father disappeared for three days.
When he returned, he was terrified.
He told Ethan:
“If anything happens to me, never trust your mother.”
Three weeks later, he died.
Official cause:
Heart failure.
Ethan was seventeen.
He tried to investigate.
But their mother threatened him.
She told him that if he continued, Mark would be next.
So Ethan disappeared.
Years later, Clara discovered the same records.
She found evidence that the company had been used to move millions of dollars through shell corporations.
But Clara discovered something even worse.
The money had eventually been connected to Victoria.
Mark stared at Ethan.
“So Victoria was working with our mother?”
“Not exactly.”
“Then who?”
Ethan looked at Arthur.
“That's where things get complicated.”
Arthur swallowed.
“What do you mean?”
Ethan pulled another document from his coat.
It was a corporate transfer authorization.
Arthur's signature was on it.
Arthur went completely still.
Mark slowly turned toward his attorney.
“Arthur?”
Arthur couldn't speak.
May you like
Ethan whispered:
“Your lawyer has been moving money for the family for twenty years.”
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