Chapter 7 - The Hidden Ledger
The sun had fully set by the time we arrived at my mother-in-law Brenda’s house on the outskirts of Raleigh. Brenda was a fierce, no-nonsense southern woman who had raised Sarah and her sister alone after her husband passed away. When she opened her front door and saw me standing there in uniform with Lily holding my hand, her eyes widened in shock.
“Mark? Good Lord, honey, I thought you weren't due back until the end of the week!” Brenda exclaimed, pulling me into a tight, fierce hug before immediately scooping Lily up into her arms. “And look at my precious girl! Come inside right now, both of you. It’s freezing out here.”
Within ten minutes, Lily was happily munching on homemade chocolate chip cookies at the kitchen island while Brenda poured me a cup of strong black coffee.
“Alright, Mark,” Brenda said, leaning against the counter, her sharp eyes studying my face. “I can tell by the look in your eyes that you didn’t just surprise us with an early homecoming. Something is terribly wrong. Where is Sarah?”
I took a slow sip of the bitter coffee before setting the mug down.
“Sarah’s gone, Brenda,” I said quietly. “I caught her. In our bed. With Derek.”
Brenda’s coffee mug slipped from her fingers, shattering against the tiled floor. She didn't even notice the shards or the dark puddle spreading around her feet. Her face twisted from shock into a mask of pure, unadulterated fury.
“That... that ungrateful, treacherous little bitch,” Brenda hissed, her voice trembling with rage. “And my good-for-nothing nephew... I swear to God, Mark, if I ever lay eyes on Derek again, I’ll take a shotgun to him myself!”
“Calm down, Brenda,” I said, holding up a hand. “It’s handled. They’re out of the house. I’m filing for divorce tomorrow morning.”
“Good,” Brenda said fiercely, crossing her arms. “You deserve ten times better, Mark. You’ve busted your back for that woman for years while she sat at home spending your deployment checks.”
That mention of deployment checks brought the nagging thought back to the forefront of my mind. I reached into my tactical jacket and pulled out a printed bank statement I had managed to pull up on my phone before leaving the house.
“Brenda,” I said, sliding the paper across the counter. “Take a look at this. It’s not just about the affair. Look at the outgoing transfers from my primary service account over the last six months.”
Brenda adjusted her reading glasses and scanned the numbers. As her eyes moved down the page, the color drained from her face.
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“Twenty-five thousand dollars?” she whispered, looking up at me in disbelief. “Mark, what is this? Who is Miller & Associates?”
“That,” I said grimly, “is my brother’s shell company. And according to these records, Sarah didn’t just cheat on me with Derek. She helped him drain my military savings account to fund some kind of real estate venture behind my back.”
