Chapter 3

I take Lily's urn to a hotel.

The front desk tells me my account has been fully frozen.

I refuse Daniel's offer to pay for me. Instead, I take off my wedding ring and go to the nearest pawn shop.

The ring cost six hundred thousand when Ethan had it custom-made.

Now it gets me eight thousand.

Just enough to pay the deposit for Lily's grave and half a month in the cheapest room.

When I walk out of the pawn shop, Ethan's car is parked by the curb.

He lowers the window and stares at the urn in my arms. His brows pull tight.

"Still not done acting?"

I open the back door and throw the legal recovery list onto his lap.

"I've never seen any of these things. Since you want to sue, make sure you submit the delivery addresses to the court too."

Ethan's voice is ice.

"There are records for thirty-six million over three years. Are you saying the money disappeared by itself?"

"The recipient is Emma Laine. She died three years ago."

Sophie turns around from the passenger seat at once. Her eyes are already red.

"Ethan, I'm looking into that. A system upgrade may have linked the payment to an old employee file by mistake. Emma doesn't understand the process, so I get why she's upset, but accusing me of stealing is really hurtful."

I look at the diamond ring on her hand.

"What about yesterday's one million? Was that a system error too?"

Sophie pulls her hand back.

"The money was transferred. As for why she says she didn't receive it, I don't want to make guesses."

Ethan's gaze lands on my face.

"Hand over the child."

"I can't."

"If you're unhappy with the allowance, come at me. Don't use Lily."

I move the urn forward an inch.

"She's right here. Do you want to hold her?"

Ethan's face turns hard. He grabs my wrist.

"Are you seriously saying that in front of our daughter?"

"She can't hear us anymore."

"Enough."

He pushes the urn back.

It is not a hard shove, but I still stumble. The urn bumps against the car door with a dull sound.

I look down and make sure the lid is secure before I lift my eyes again.

Ethan's hand freezes in the air.

Sophie says softly, "Ethan, the board is waiting."

He pulls his hand back.

"Come to the office this afternoon and explain everything in front of everyone. I'm giving you a chance to prove it."

The Grant Group conference room is full of shareholders and finance staff.

The big screen displays thirty-six million dollars in expenses.

Ethan sits at the head of the table.

"You say you didn't receive the money. Where's your proof?"

I hand over my bank statements.

"Five hundred a month for three years. Eighteen thousand total. My balance never went over twenty thousand."

Tears fall from Sophie's eyes.

"I don't know whether those statements are real. I'm willing to cooperate with an investigation. But there's something I have to say."

She takes out a stack of receipts.

"Emma has been involved in underground poker games for a long time. She owes massive gambling debts. To protect the Grant family's reputation, I transferred money into the account she designated."

The room breaks into murmurs.

I pick up the top IOU.

The signature looks a lot like mine, but the last stroke lifts up in a sharp little hook.

Sophie signs her financial documents the same way.

"You say I gamble. Where?"

"You always wore a mask. I never went in."

"Who was the contact?"

"That's your private life. I don't think it's appropriate to say."

Ethan cuts me off.

"Sophie has no reason to risk her future lying for you."

"So I'm risking my daughter's life to lie?"

I slap Lily's death certificate onto the table.

"Lily died the night before last from multiple organ failure. The two hundred thousand hospital payment went into a dead woman's account."

Ethan does not reach for it.

Sophie covers her mouth and shakes as she cries.

"How could you forge a death certificate? She's only two and a half. No matter how desperate you are for money, you can't curse your own daughter like that."

The shareholders' eyes change when they look at me.

Ethan raises his hand and tears the certificate in half.

The pieces fall near my feet.

He looks at me.

"I'll send someone to pick Lily up tomorrow morning. If I don't see her, I'll file for emergency custody."

"She has already been cremated."

"Then bring the real ashes."

I have been holding the urn the whole time.

He sees it.

But he has decided it is only another prop in my performance.

I crouch down and pick up the torn pieces one by one.

Under the table, Sophie's heel pins one corner to the floor.

She bends closer. Her voice is low enough that only I can hear.

"The money is with me. So what? What can you prove?"

She shoves the fake receipts back into her bag in a hurry.

But a torn corner of an original payment slip slips out with them.

It flutters down beside my foot.

I see the partial account number printed on it.

Ending in 0719.

The same as the new account opened under the dead janitor's name.