Chapter 5 - Patricia’s Secret
Patricia called at seven the next morning.
Jennifer watched the phone ring until it stopped.
Thirty seconds later, it rang again.
On the fourth attempt, Jennifer answered.
“What do you want?”
Patricia’s voice sounded broken.
“I need to explain.”
Jennifer looked at Lily sleeping beside her.
“Then explain Westbridge.”
Silence.
That silence answered more than words.
“You knew.”
“I knew the company existed.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Patricia sighed.
“Daniel told me it was for consulting income.”
“And you owned twenty percent?”
“He asked me to sign paperwork years ago.”
Jennifer closed her eyes.
“You expect me to believe you signed ownership documents without understanding them?”
Patricia’s tone hardened slightly.
“Families trust each other.”
Jennifer looked at the folder.
“That philosophy seems to be working beautifully.”
Patricia began crying.
Jennifer felt no satisfaction.
Only exhaustion.
“I never knew about Chloe.”
“Maybe.”
“I swear.”
“But you knew Daniel was hiding money.”
Patricia did not answer.
Jennifer ended the call.
At noon, Rachel arrived with another attorney from her firm, Marcus Bell, who specialized in financial litigation.
He spread documents across Jennifer’s dining table.
“Westbridge received more than six hundred thousand dollars over four years.”
Jennifer stared at him.
“From Robert’s company?”
“Some.”
“How much?”
“We don’t know yet.”
Marcus pointed to several transactions.
“But money also moved through accounts connected to real estate purchases.”
Jennifer frowned.
“What real estate?”
He slid a property record toward her.
A condominium.
Purchased eighteen months earlier.
Owner listed as Westbridge Advisory LLC.
Address across town.
Jennifer recognized the neighborhood.
Daniel had once told her he regularly met clients there.
Her stomach turned.
“Chloe?”
Rachel shook her head.
“Not necessarily.”
Jennifer looked closer.
The condo had been purchased before Chloe’s divorce.
Before the affair Daniel claimed had begun.
That meant something else had been happening there.
Marcus spoke.
“We need complete financial discovery.”
Jennifer nodded.
“File the divorce.”
Rachel had been waiting for those words.
“Today?”
“Today.”
Jennifer signed the petition before she could allow herself to reconsider.
Daniel was formally served that afternoon at his office.
Twenty minutes later, he called Jennifer.
She answered.
His voice was shaking with anger.
“You filed?”
“Yes.”
“You didn’t even talk to me.”
Jennifer almost smiled at the absurdity.
“I read your messages for four months.”
“That isn’t the same thing.”
“It was enough.”
Daniel lowered his voice.
“You need to withdraw it.”
“No.”
“If you drag lawyers into our finances, you have no idea what you’re going to cause.”
Jennifer became still.
“Is that a threat?”
“It’s a warning.”
Jennifer heard someone speaking near him.
A woman.
Then Daniel covered the phone.
The voice became muffled.
But Jennifer recognized it.
Patricia.
Daniel came back.
“Think about Lily.”
Jennifer’s answer was immediate.
“That is exactly what I’m doing.”
She hung up.
Five minutes later, Marcus received an automated alert from the county property system.
Someone had just filed paperwork attempting to transfer the Westbridge condominium.
The recipient was a newly formed trust.
May you like
Its beneficiary was listed as Lily Carter.
Jennifer’s three-month-old daughter.
