Chapter 4
Two days later, Lena Ortiz came to the hospital.
She was not only my former colleague.
She was my closest friend and the attorney I trusted with every document that mattered.
She brought a laptop, a stack of files, and an expression I recognized from years of investigations.
Someone had made a mistake.
A very expensive mistake.
“Nathan accessed your private business account,” she said.
I stared at her.
“What?”
“Three weeks ago. He used an old authorization form that should have expired after your maternity leave began.”
My hands tightened around the blanket.
Nathan had told me he needed my digital signature for “tax documents.”
I had trusted him.
Lena continued.
“He transferred money through a vendor connected to Melissa’s husband.”
“How much?”
“Two hundred and eighty thousand dollars.”
For a moment, I could not breathe.
Nathan’s family had made me wash dishes while they planned to steal from me.
The party had not been about Patricia showing off.
It had been about keeping me exhausted, distracted, and obedient while Nathan cleaned up his financial trail.
Lena showed me the transaction records.
The money had been divided into smaller payments.
Consulting fees.
Equipment deposits.
Travel expenses.
All fake.
“There is more,” she said.
Melissa had been trying to access documents stored in my home office. She had searched for records linked to the family shares I controlled.
They thought I was too tired, too pregnant, too dependent to notice.
They were wrong.
“Freeze all accounts,” I said.
Lena nodded.
“Already done.”
“What about Nathan?”
“He has been removed from any authority over your assets. The company board has also begun an independent review.”
I looked toward the neonatal unit.
Grace slept inside a clear incubator, surrounded by wires and machines.
My daughter had entered the world fighting for breath while her father worried about money.
Anger settled inside me.
Not wild anger.
Clear anger.
The kind that helps a person stand.
“Start the legal process,” I said.
Lena looked at me carefully.
“Are you sure?”
Nathan had expected me to wait.
To forgive.
To stay quiet for the sake of family.
May you like
I looked at my daughter.
“Yes,” I said. “I’m sure.”
