Chapter 4 - Lauren’s Last Lie
Lauren called me the next morning.
I answered only because I wanted to hear whether she would tell the truth.
“Sophia,” she said, crying. “Please don’t hang up.”
I sat in the study with my attorney beside me.
“Why are you calling?”
“I did not know he was stealing.”
“You knew he was transferring money from my company.”
“I thought it was his money.”
“You thought the companies were his because he told you that.”
Her silence lasted too long.
Then she whispered, “He said you did not care about any of it.”
“He said I did not care about my own company?”
“He said you inherited everything and never appreciated what he built.”
I looked at the framed photo on my desk.
My father and me at my first board meeting.
I was twenty-three years old, nervous, ambitious, and proud.
“I built what I have,” I said. “Ethan rented a role in it.”
Lauren began crying harder.
“I am pregnant. I do not know what will happen to me.”
“You should have thought about that before helping him plan a life funded by stolen money.”
“I loved him.”
“So did I.”
That was the only kindness I offered.
Because I understood something Lauren did not.
Loving someone did not erase what they chose to do.
My attorney leaned toward me and nodded.
The court order had been executed.
Lauren’s apartment was now secured as evidence in the fraud case. Her vehicle lease was frozen. The accounts connected to the shell companies were under review.
I spoke calmly into the phone.
“Your attorney will receive instructions from mine. Do not destroy records. Do not transfer funds. Do not contact me again.”
Then I ended the call.
Later that afternoon, the district attorney’s office opened a formal investigation into Ethan’s financial activity.
The recording from the hospital became part of the evidence.
The bank records confirmed the pattern.
And once Ethan realized there was no escape through lies, he began offering names.
He told investigators about two former executives who helped hide the transfers.
He turned over emails.
He blamed everyone except himself.
But the documents did not lie.
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Ethan Cole had spent years pretending he was powerful.
In truth, every luxury he enjoyed had been funded by a woman he underestimated.
