Chapter 9 - The House of Cards Collapses
The silence that followed was suffocating. Evelyn stared at her sister in utter disbelief. Chloe, the golden child, the genius doctor, was a complete and total fraud.
"That... that can't be true," her father whispered, his menacing posture completely dissolving. "We've been paying her tuition. We've been paying her rent for her clinic..."
"There is no clinic," Nora said, delivering the final, fatal blow. "The other files on that drive are bank statements and wire transfers. Aunt Chloe has been taking the money you send her and wiring it to offshore gambling accounts and luxury credit cards. She maxed out two credit cards in Grandpa’s name. That's why she needs my mom’s house. She’s in massive debt, and the bank is coming after her."
Her father physically swayed, grabbing the back of the wooden chair to keep himself from collapsing. His retirement. His savings. His credit. Everything he had poured into his favorite daughter was gone, stolen by the very person he thought was the pride of the family.
He turned his head slowly to look at Chloe.
Chloe was hyperventilating, tears of guilt and panic ruining her perfect makeup. "Dad... Dad, I can explain! It was just a bad investment! I was going to pay you back once I sold Evelyn's house!"
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"You stole from us?!" her mother shrieked, clutching her chest in horror. "You were going to make your sister homeless to cover your gambling debts?!"
👉 What will Evelyn do now that the power dynamic in the room has completely flipped?
