Chapter 6 - THE WAR BEGINSSecurity arrived before breakfast.
Cameras.
Motion sensors.
Guards.
A panic button beside my bed.
Dad checked my car for tracking devices.
Then his lawyers arrived.
By noon, the first audit was underway.
And the numbers were horrifying.
Millions were missing.
Not just my money.
Investor money.
Client deposits.
Company funds.
Ryan and Richard hadn't built an empire.
They had built a machine designed to keep collapsing debt hidden beneath new money.
And my forty thousand dollars had only been one piece of it.
Dad stared at the financial reports.
"Emily..."
"How bad?"
He hesitated.
"At least five million."
My stomach dropped.
Later, the number became seven million.
Then nearly ten.
Ryan's family wasn't simply dishonest.
They were drowning.
And they had spent years making sure nobody noticed.
That evening, Dad sat beside me on the porch.
"They're going to attack your reputation."
"I know."
"They'll call you unstable."
"I know."
"They may try to take Lily."
I looked toward the bedroom window.
"No."
Dad squeezed my hand.
May you like
"They won't."
But neither of us knew how far Diane Carter was willing to go.
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