Chapter 3 - The Cold Mandate
Claire didn't bother looking at Vanessa. She reached out her pale hand toward the polished oak bedside table, picking up her metallic smartphone.
Her fingers tapped firmly across the glowing screen, composing a single three-word text message to her family’s senior corporate litigation partner.
"Don't bother coming back, Ryan," Claire said, her voice dropping to a steady, unwavering tone that made Ryan’s breath hitch in his throat.
Ryan scoffed nervously, trying to regain his confident posture. "Claire, don't be ridiculous. You're emotional because of the delivery. I'm just being a responsible boss. Vanessa has no family in the city, and as her employer, I have a moral obligation—"
"A moral obligation?" Claire’s father interrupted, stepping directly into Ryan’s personal space with a cold, terrifying smile. "Is that what you call paying her five-thousand-dollar luxury apartment rent out of my daughter’s personal trust account?"
Ryan’s face drained of every drop of color. "What... what are you talking about?"
Claire raised her smartphone, turning the glowing screen toward Ryan so he could see the delivery confirmation timestamp on her sent message: "File the petition."
"My attorney already has every statement of the money you stole from us, Ryan," Claire whispered in a chilling, decisive tone.
For eighteen months, Ryan had believed he was cleverly embezzling funds from the Sterling Family Trust, diverting offshore transfers to buy luxury jewelry, sports cars, and private medical care for Vanessa.
He thought Claire was too soft and distracted by her pregnancy to audit the monthly portfolio ledgers.
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He had no idea that Claire had spent her entire third trimester working silently with forensic accountants to track every single cent he had moved.
👉 Read Part 4 to see what happened when the hospital security team took action.
