Chapter 12 - THE DIVORCE LIE
For three years, our entire family had treated Mark like a traitor.
Mom refused to invite him inside during custody exchanges.
Dad called him arrogant.
Jessica cried whenever his name came up.
And I had believed her.
Now Mark sat across from me with proof that the story had been backwards.
“I didn't tell people the financial reason,” he said. “I was trying to protect Lily from growing up knowing her mother stole money.”
“How much?”
“Back then? Forty thousand.”
That had seemed enormous.
Compared with eight hundred thousand, it was almost a warning shot.
“What happened?”
“Jessica said it was a mistake. She claimed she was overwhelmed. She entered counseling. During mediation, she convinced me not to push criminally because it could affect Lily.”
“And then she told everyone you cheated.”
He nodded.
I felt ashamed.
“I hated you.”
“I know.”
“I'm sorry.”
Mark looked exhausted.
“Brooke, your sister's choices are not yours.”
It was almost exactly what I had told Lily hours earlier.
For the first time all day, I understood how badly I needed to hear it too.
The forensic team kept digging.
By evening, they found another layer.
Dad had used fake invoices from my company because my business was legitimate, profitable, and complicated enough that small unexplained payments wouldn't attract immediate attention.
But there was another reason.
My agency carried significant liability insurance.
If the fraud was eventually discovered and blamed on an employee or accounting error, my business could become the financial target.
“They weren't just going to blame me,” I said.
“They were going to make your company pay,” my attorney replied.
My attorney.
I had needed one by then.
A corporate lawyer from my firm's legal team had joined the case and immediately frozen company accounts against suspicious withdrawals.
She also found a fake vendor profile.
BROOKE CARTER FAMILY CONSULTING.
Same tax address as my real company.
Different banking information.
The bank account belonged to a shell company.
Its authorized signer was Robert Carter.
My father.
I stared at the paperwork.
“He used my name.”
“For nearly two years.”
“Can he destroy my company?”
“Not if we document this properly.”
That sentence finally allowed me to breathe.
There would be consequences.
But I wasn't trapped.
Not anymore.
Then investigators discovered something inside Dad's seized laptop.
A scheduled email.
It had been set to send Monday morning after my plane landed in Maui.
Recipient:
Mark Bennett.
Subject:
LILY'S LOCATION.
The message had been written in my name.
Mark read it aloud.
I have Lily. Jessica agreed that she is safer with me for now. Do not contact us. If you interfere, I will involve law enforcement.
My skin went cold.
Attached were the forged guardianship papers.
The fake invoices.
And a photograph of my passport.
They had planned to make Mark believe I was part of it.
But buried in the draft attachments was one file Dad had apparently added by mistake.
A spreadsheet labeled DISTRIBUTION AFTER DEPARTURE.
It showed how the remaining stolen money would be divided.
Jessica: $160,000.
Mom and Dad: $220,000.
Derek: $410,000.
And beside my name was one final entry.
BROOKE - LIABILITY HOLDER.
Zero dollars.
May you like
They had never planned to include me.
They had planned to sacrifice me.
