Chapter 2 - THE MONEY TRAIL
The judge ordered a temporary recess.
The courtroom erupted the moment she left.
Reporters rushed toward the attorneys.
Jason ignored them.
He came straight toward me.
“You planned this.”
I gathered my coat from the chair.
“Yes.”
His jaw tightened.
“For how long?”
“Three years.”
He stared at me.
Three years.
That was how long I had been quietly documenting everything.
The late-night transfers.
The secret accounts.
The altered contracts.
The sudden property purchases.
The women who appeared on his corporate expense reports.
But the worst evidence wasn’t about Madison.
It was about Jason’s brother, Caleb.
Caleb had been listed as the company’s chief financial officer for eight years.
He was also the man who had repeatedly told me not to worry about the financial records.
Now Daniel handed me a photograph.
Caleb entering a private banking office.
Behind him was Jason.
Behind Jason was Madison.
The date was eighteen months earlier.
“Why was Madison there?” I asked.
Daniel lowered his voice.
“That’s what we’re about to find out.”
Across the room, Madison was arguing with Jason.
“You said she had nothing.”
“I thought she did.”
“You promised me the company.”
“I never promised you anything.”
“You promised me a future.”
Her voice rose.
Several reporters turned.
Jason grabbed her arm.
“Not here.”
She pulled away.
“You used me.”
I watched them carefully.
Something about their argument felt wrong.
This wasn’t the fight of two people caught cheating.
It sounded like the collapse of a business arrangement.
Then Madison said something that made Jason freeze.
“You told me the files were destroyed.”
My stomach tightened.
“What files?” I whispered.
Daniel heard her too.
He immediately picked up his phone.
“Stay here.”
He crossed the courtroom.
Before he reached them, a court officer approached me.
“Mrs. Mitchell?”
“Yes?”
“There’s someone waiting for you downstairs.”
“Who?”
The officer hesitated.
“She says her name is Elena Mitchell.”
My heart stopped.
Elena.
Jason’s mother.
The woman who had spent years calling me an opportunist.
The woman who had publicly supported Madison.
The woman who had told everyone Jason was innocent.
“Why does she want to see me?”
The officer handed me a sealed envelope.
“She said you would understand after you read this.”
I opened it.
There was only one sentence.
Your husband didn’t steal your company. He stole it from someone else first.
I looked up.
Daniel was already staring at me.
“Who?” he asked.
I handed him the note.
His face went pale.
“Where is Elena?”
The officer pointed toward the elevator.
But before we could move, the courtroom doors opened.
May you like
Elena stood there.
And she was crying.
