Chapter 3 - The Web of Deceit
When I stepped into the master bedroom, Wendy was lying across the king-sized bed in her silk nightgown, a soft, seductive smile on her face. A second glass of red wine sat on my nightstand.
"You look stressed, babe," she said, stretching like a cat. "I know seeing your mother like that was shocking, but you have to understand how difficult she’s been. She’s getting aggressive, Luca. She bumped into the counter herself tonight when I tried to keep her from eating raw meat out of the fridge."
I sat on the edge of the bed, not touching the wine glass. "Is that so?"
"Yes," she sighed, leaning over to rest her hand on my shoulder. "I didn't want to worry you while you were pitching to clients in Chicago, but her doctor thinks it's time for specialized round-the-clock care. I actually spoke to a representative from a lovely facility upstate yesterday."
"Upstate?" I asked, looking directly into her eyes. "How much does a place like that cost?"
"Oh, it's expensive," she said casually, twirling a strand of blonde hair. "Around twelve thousand a month. But luckily, your mother mentioned she wanted to liquidate her old retirement account to cover it. She actually asked me to help her process the paperwork last week."
The sheer nerve of her lie was staggering. She didn't just lie; she lied with a smile, looking me straight in the face while trying to cover up a felony.
"That's very generous of her," I said smoothly. "Did she sign the authorization forms already?"
"Yes! She signed them on Monday," Wendy said, her eyes lighting up with hidden triumph. "I was going to submit them to the broker tomorrow morning so we can get her moved in by the weekend."
"Don't worry about submitting them," I said, offering a small, empty smile. "I'll handle the broker personally tomorrow. You've worked hard enough taking care of things while I was gone."
Her smile froze for a microsecond. "Oh, you don't have to do that! You have so much work to catch up on—"
"I insist," I interrupted, my tone leaving no room for debate. "In fact, I'm taking the whole day off tomorrow to stay home and make sure everything is... properly settled."
Wendy swallowed hard, her confidence finally showing a tiny crack. "Okay... sure. That's great, sweetie."
An hour later, after Wendy fell asleep, I slipped out of bed, grabbed her phone from the nightstand, and used her sleeping thumb to unlock the facial recognition screen.
I exported every text message, email thread, and voice memo from her phone directly to my secure server. What I found inside her deleted messages turned my stomach into a knot of pure rage.
She was texting a man named Julian—her former college boyfriend and a disgraced former financial advisor.
Wendy: "The old hag signed the transfer. Luca is in Chicago until Friday. Once the money hits the Cayman account on Friday morning, I’m booking the flight to Cabo. Let him figure out the mess."
Julian: "Did you secure the house deed transfer?"
Wendy: "Working on it. He’s too blind to notice anything."
I stepped back out into the hallway, holding her unlocked phone. She hadn't just planned to rob me; she was planning to abandon my battered mother in a cheap state home while leaving me bankrupt and facing a ruined reputation.
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I dialed my personal legal counsel, a ruthless corporate attorney named Arthur Vance, at 2:00 AM.
"Arthur," I said quietly, looking out the hallway window at the dark street. "I need an emergency ex-parte freezing order on all domestic and offshore accounts associated with my wife and her associate, Julian Reed. And call the District Attorney's elder abuse division. We have a felony in progress."
