Chapter 4 - The Unmasking
I didn't stop with just moving us out. The monster my mother had raised was gone; in his place was a man who wanted justice. I began to dig into the finances my mother had managed since I was a teenager. I had always assumed she was "saving" for my future.
I hired a forensic accountant. What we found in the next seventy-two hours was enough to put her away for years. She had been embezzling from the trust my father had set up for me, laundering it through various "consultancy" accounts that she controlled. She had been living a life of luxury on money that was meant for my education, my marriage, and my child.
When I confronted her in a private meeting, arranged by my lawyers, she didn't apologize. She laughed.
"You think you’re so righteous, Arthur? You think you’re better than me? You’ve been living off that trust your whole life! If you go to the police, you’re implicating yourself in the ignorance of it all."
May you like
"I don't care," I said. "I’d rather have nothing and be free of you than have a fortune and be your puppet. The evidence is on its way to the DA. You have two choices: you sign over everything you’ve stolen, you give up all claims to this family, and you disappear, or you face the consequences of a public trial. Your friends, your country club, your standing in the community—it will all be a footnote in the news report about your theft."
The color drained from her face. She realized then that I wasn't the boy who wanted her approval. I was the man who had seen her for exactly what she was.
