Chapter 6 - The Vacation I Bought
By afternoon, Ethan’s forensic team confirmed the expense card had been copied into a digital wallet.
The wallet was registered to Ryan.
He had used it carefully.
Small charges first.
Restaurants.
Gas.
A hotel.
Then larger purchases.
Airline tickets.
A luxury resort deposit.
Jewelry.
Nearly $37,000 in unauthorized expenses.
That was only what they had found so far.
I sat at my kitchen island with Samantha and Ethan while fireworks debris still floated between buildings outside.
“Can he claim you authorized it?” Ethan asked.
“He can claim anything.”
Samantha tapped the transaction list.
“But recurring fraudulent use is different from buying dinner with your spouse’s card.”
I looked at one charge.
$8,900.
Maison Laurent Jewelers.
“I never received jewelry.”
Samantha searched the date.
“December ninth.”
I remembered December ninth.
Ryan had told me he was taking Diane Christmas shopping.
He came home late and kissed my stomach before bed.
I almost laughed.
Not because anything was funny.
Because my life had become absurd.
My phone rang.
Brooke.
I declined.
She immediately sent a message.
Please talk to me before you destroy this family.
I stared at it.
Then another appeared.
Dad could go to jail.
Another.
Ryan says you’re trying to take everything.
I finally responded.
Nothing I own belongs to Ryan.
Three dots appeared.
Then vanished.
Another message arrived.
Mom has nowhere to go.
That one confused me.
Diane lived in a four-bedroom house in Cherry Creek.
Or at least I thought she did.
I called Samantha.
“Can you check who owns Grant and Diane’s house?”
She looked at me strangely.
“You don’t know?”
“They told us they refinanced two years ago.”
Samantha pulled up public property records.
Thirty seconds later, she turned her laptop toward me.
The property had been sold eleven months earlier.
Grant and Diane no longer owned it.
“Who does?”
“A holding company.”
“Which one?”
Samantha clicked.
Her expression changed.
“Claire.”
“What?”
“The registered mailing address belongs to a company controlled by Ryan.”
I stared at her.
Ryan had never told me he owned a real-estate company.
Samantha searched the entity.
It had been created eighteen months earlier.
Managing member: Ryan Bennett.
Initial capital contribution: $500,000.
My mouth went dry.
“Ryan has never had $500,000.”
Ethan slowly closed his laptop.
Samantha didn’t answer.
She didn’t need to.
There were only two possibilities.
Ryan had a source of money I knew nothing about.
Or the money had come from me.
Then Samantha found a document attached to the business filing.
A lender disclosure.
The funding source was listed as a private investor.
The investor’s initials were C.B.
May you like
Claire Bennett.
I had never invested a dollar.
