Chapter 7
But Arnold still wouldn’t back down.
He only stopped when my brother Marcus Smith rushed in with two lawyers in black suits.
“Marcus!”
I’d barely gotten the words out when Sarah shrieked and dove behind Arnold.
“That’s him! That’s her lover! I saw them making out in the parking garage!”
The crowd immediately started buzzing, people pointing and whispering about my brother.
“Guy looks decent enough, but turns out he’s a homewrecker.”
“Jeez, takes all kinds these days.”
“No wonder she wants a divorce-already got her next guy lined up!”
Seeing people buying her story, Sarah got even more dramatic.
She dabbed at her tears, making sure everyone could hear: “I saw it myself! Last month I went down to the garage to grab something, and there they were in the car, all over each other… Pretty sure they were making out too. God knows what else they were doing.”
She let her words hang in the air, causing another wave of shocked murmurs.
I was shaking with rage.
“Sarah! You’re such a liar! He’s my brother!”
“Your brother?”
Sarah stuck her chin out. “Then why were you two stuck in that car for so long? Why’d he leave the second I showed up?”
“Some people who cheat always claim they’re ‘just family.””
My brother’s face went dark with anger.
That’s bullshit! I was dropping off soup Mom made for Cecilia!”
“Soup?”
Sarah’s voice dripped with sarcasm. “What kind of soup takes an hour to drink in a car?”
The whispers around us got louder.
Some older lady shook her head: “Kids these days have no shame! Can’t blame the husband for losing it!”
Arnold jumped on this immediately: “See, Cecilia? Sarah saw everything!”
since my brother had been overseas our entire marriage, he and Arnold had never actually met.
Without another word, my brother threw a punch.
You piece of shit! You know damn well Cecilia didn’t cheat!”
Then he yanked out the family photo he always carried and shoved it in Arnold’s face. “Use your fucking eyes and look!”
“You two planned this whole thing to scam Cecilia If I hadn’t come back for business, I never would’ve known how low you’d sink!”
My brother opened his briefcase and dozens of photos scattered everywhere.
Surveillance shots of Sarah in VIP casino suites.
Receipts from her Hermès shopping sprees using my card.
Chapter 7
But the most damning was a photo of her arm-in-arm with some balding middle aged guy at a real estate office.
“Guys, take a good look at this.”
My brother picked up a copy of a property contract. “This Sarah here used my sister’s credit card to buy a $2.3 million penthouse in Harbor Bay. Guess whose name’s on the deed?”
The crowd went nuts.
That’s when I realized we had over a hundred people watching, phones out, recording everything.
“It’s not what you think!”
Sarah was panicking now. “That house was an investment!”
My brother pulled out a thick stack of bank statements.
“Oh really? What about this? $16.48 million moved out in three months. Two million went straight to your real parents. Want me to break down the rest?”
Sarah went white as a ghost and collapsed to her knees.
“Cecilia…”
Her voice was shaking as she clutched at her clothes.
“My parents are living in this crappy old house back home! The roof leaks, the heat doesn’t work… I just wanted them to have something better. I didn’t mean any harm.”
she grabbed onto my legs, trembling all over.
“Please, just forgive me this once? I swear I’ll pay it back! When I marry rich, I’ll give you every penny of the wedding money!”
Arnold couldn’t stand seeing her like this: “Come on, Cecilia. Sarah was just trying to help her family.”
“Look, we’re family. Her money is your money, isn’t it?”
My brother laughed bitterly.
“Family? When the hell has your family ever treated my sister like family?”
“Last Christmas Eve, who made her eat leftovers alone in the kitchen while the rest of you had dinner together?”
I bit down hard on my lip.
All those memories I’d tried to forget suddenly came rushing back.
My mother-in-law hating me so much she made me kneel on that freezing cold floor for three whole days, and how I only got leftover food at Christmas.
“That’s not true!”
Arnold’s face went red. “Those are just old family rules! Everyone gets treated the same!”
“Rules?”
My brother was pissed. “What about that $300,000 fancy wood furniture set-was that also some family rule?”
“Hasn’t Cecilia been good enough to your family? What did we ever do wrong!”
The crowd got really angry.
Some guy in a leather jacket yelled: “What an asshole!”
That’s when the lawyer with glasses stepped up.
“Mr. Arnold, here’s the divorce papers. If you sign now, we can work something out about all that money from this year.”
“No way!”
Chapter
Arnold kicked the papers. “That’s our money too!”
“According to the law.”
The lawyer pushed up his glasses. “Stealing this much money gets you ten years in prison. Six hundred thousand is way more than e
The lawyer’s words hit Arnold like a truck. He stumbled back.
His mouth was moving but nothing came out.
Sarah just fell apart on the floor, her hair all messed up.
“Cecilia, we’re family! You can’t send us to jail!”
Everyone started booing.
That leather jacket guy even spit at them. “You deserve it!”
Then my legs just gave out and I had to grab the counter.
My stomach was killing me, like someone was stabbing me inside.
“Marcus…”
I grabbed his shirt. “My stomach really hurts.”
My brother’s face went white and he caught me.
But Arnold ran over and grabbed my other arm.
“Baby, let me take you to the hospital!”
My brother punched him in the face.
“Get away from her!”
hapter #
