Chapter 9 - The Shocking Discovery
I started the engine and drove down the winding driveway, leaving the Sterling estate behind. My attorney, Arthur, was waiting for me at a private residence downtown—a quiet apartment I had leased three months ago under my maiden name.
When we arrived, Arthur met me at the door, helping me carry the bags inside and settling Owen into a cozy bedroom.
"You executed that perfectly, Mara," Arthur said, pouring a glass of water and setting it on the dining table. "Grant and Julian are being processed right now. Neither of them will be getting bail before Monday morning."
"What about the civil filings?" I asked, sitting down and resting my hands on the cool glass.
"They're already submitted to the clerk," Arthur said. "By the time Grant gets out on bail, every account associated with his name will be frozen. The court has already granted a temporary restraining order based on the audio evidence."
Arthur paused, looking at me with an uncharacteristic hesitation.
"What is it, Arthur?" I asked.
He pulled a brown Manila envelope from his briefcase and laid it between us. "While we were running the final financial trace on Grant’s offshore accounts, my investigator found something else. Something Grant didn't even know we uncovered."
I narrowed my eyes. "What?"
"Grant wasn't just embezzling money to pay for Tessa’s lifestyle," Arthur said quietly. "He was paying off a massive debt to a development group in Chicago. A group owned by your late father’s former partner."
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I froze. "What did he owe them for?"
"He didn't owe them," Arthur revealed, opening the folder to reveal a signed contract from seven years ago—months before Grant and I were ever married. "Grant was paid two million dollars seven years ago to approach you, marry you, and gain access to your father’s proprietary real estate trust."
