Chapter 3 - The Trap Is Sprung
Margaret gasped, her hand flying to her mouth—not in horror at what her son had done, but in sheer disgust at the sight of the mark.
"Good God, Daniel," Margaret whispered, her eyes darting toward the front windows. "What did you do? In her own home? If the neighbors see—"
"She wouldn't listen, Mom!" Daniel roared, slamming his fist onto the table. The wine glasses rattled, and a few drops of red wine spilled onto the white linen like drops of blood. "She threatened to keep the townhouse. She was going to ruin everything! I did what I had to do to make her understand!"
He stood up, towering over me, his chest heaving. "You think you're smart, Mara? You think showing my mother a little bruise changes anything? You're my wife. You're moving into that house, and you're going to sign the deed transfer tomorrow morning, or I swear to God, last night will look like a rehearsal."
I didn't flinch. I sat perfectly still, looking up at him.
"Blackwood Holdings is in default, isn't it, Margaret?" I asked, completely ignoring Daniel’s threat. I turned my gaze to the older woman, who was now trembling with rage. "Your late husband didn't leave you a fortune. He left you a mountain of debt, leveraged against a crumbling colonial house that you can't afford to heat. Daniel has been embezzling from his firm, transferring money through our joint account into your LLC to keep the banks from foreclosing. But the firm started an internal audit last week. That's why you need my house. You need the clean cash to cover Daniel's tracks before the federal regulators step in."
Margaret’s face drained of color. "How... how do you know about the audit?"
"Because I called the managing partner at his firm this morning," I said, a cold, hard smile spreading across my lips. "I told him I was compiling financial records for a divorce proceeding and needed to verify some transaction history. He was very helpful. He mentioned they were already looking into Daniel’s accounts."
Daniel lunged across the table, grabbing the front of my dress, dragging me out of my chair. The porcelain bowl in the center of the table overturned, sending dried eucalyptus leaves flying across the floor.
"You miserable bitch!" Daniel screamed, his face inches from mine, his breath hot against my skin. "You ruined me! I’ll kill you before I let you take anything from me!"
Behind him, Margaret didn't try to stop him. She was already reaching for her handbag. "We need to get her out of here, Daniel. We need to take her to the house. We can make her sign the papers there."
Daniel raised his hand, his fingers curling into a fist, ready to strike my face again.
May you like
I looked him dead in the eye.
"The wine is perfectly aged," I said clearly.
