Rise of the Formidable Ex-wife (Lucia and Alex) novel Chapter 88

Chapter 88

Chapter 88

Ria burst through the front door, her heels clicking against the marble floor like gunshots. Her face was streaked with tears, mascara smeared, hands shaking with rage and despair. The elevator ride down from Lucia’s office had been the longest thirty-two floors of her life.

“Dad!” she called out, her voice echoing through the empty hallway. “DAD!”

She found Marco in his study, hunched over his laptop with papers scattered across his desk. He looked up as she entered, his face pale and drawn, dark circles under his eyes.

“Ria? What’s wrong? You look…”

“I know,” Ria said, cutting him off. Her voice was steady now, deadly calm. “I know about the offshore accounts.”

Marco’s face went white. His fingers froze over the keyboard.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Marco said weakly, but his voice cracked.

“Don’t,” Ria said, stepping into the room and closing the door. “Don’t you dare lie to me. Not after everything we’ve lost because of your lies.”

“Ria, you’re upset. Whatever your mother told you.”

“My mother?” Ria’s voice rose. “You mean the woman you threw away like garbage? The woman whose belongings we helped pack while your mistress moved into her house?”

“That’s not how it happened.”

“ISN’T IT?” Ria screamed. “Because I was there, Dad! I was there when Margaret picked out furniture for Mom’s house before you even told Mom you were leaving!”

Marco flinched. “We were having problems. Your mother and I.”

“Had problems that you solved by stealing money and hiding it from her during the divorce,” Ria finished. “Had problems that you fixed by lying to the courts about your assets while funding Margaret’s lifestyle with secret accounts.”

Marco stood up quickly. “Who told you that? What exactly did Lucia say?”

“She told me the truth,” Ria said, tears streaming down her face. “Something no one in this family has done for months. She told me about the offshore accounts you set up. About the money you moved so Mom couldn’t get her fair share. About the fraud you committed.”

“It’s not fraud,” Marco said desperately. “It’s protecting assets. It’s what any smart businessman would do.”

“It’s stealing!” Ria shouted. “You stole from your own wife! You lied to the courts!”

Marco began pacing like a caged animal. “You don’t understand how complicated these things are. The business world is ruthless.”

“Protecting from what? From Mom?” Ria’s voice was incredulous. “From the woman who hosted dinners with your clients every month for years? From the woman who supported your dreams and raised your children?”

“Your mother never understood business.”

J

“She understood enough to predict every disaster you walked into!” Ria screamed. “Every failed deal, every bad partnership, she warned you about all of it!”

Marco stopped pacing. “How could you possibly know that?”

“Because I listened!” Ria’s voice broke. “I listened when she tried to talk to you about the Patterson contract. I listened when she warned you about the Chicago expansion. And I watched you dismiss her every single time!”

Marco sank into his chair. “She was just emotional. She didn’t have the experience.”

“She was right!” Ria slammed her hand on his desk. “About everything! And now she owns your company because you were too arrogant to listen!”

“The accounts exist, don’t they?” Ria asked.

Marco’s mouth opened and closed soundlessly.

“DON’T THEY?” Ria shouted.

“Yes,” Marco whispered. “But it’s not what you think.”

“How much?” Ria demanded.

“How much what?”

Chapter 88

“How much company money did you hide? How much did you steal?”

Maroo was quiet for a long moment. “About five hundred trillion dollars.”

Ria felt the room spin. The number was so massive she couldn’t comprehend it.

“Five hundred million dollars, she whispered

“FIVE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS!” Ria screamed. “That’s half the company funds! You stole half of everything Hart Industries was worth!”

“The business needed protection.”

“From who?” Ria cut him off. “You stole five hundred million from your own company! That’s not your money! That’s the company’s money! That’s shareholder money!”

Marco reached toward his daughter. “Ria, you have to understand.”

‘Don’t touch me,” Ria said, backing away. “Don’t you dare touch me with those hands that stole five hundred million dollars from your own company.”

‘Where is it?” Ria demanded. “Where’s all that money now?”

Marco looked away. “Some of it is still in the accounts. Some of it was. Was used.”

‘Used for what?”

Marco’s silence was damning.

‘FOR WHAT?” Ria screamed.

‘Margaret,” Marco admitted quietly. “The house renovation. Our wedding. Her. Her lifestyle.”

‘How much?” Ria’s voice was deadly calm.

‘About one hundred and thirty million dollars.”

Ria staggered backward. “One hundred and thirty million. You spent one hundred and thirty million dollars of stolen company money on Margaret?”

‘It wasn’t stolen. I’m the CEO.”

‘YOU’RE A THIEF!” Ria shouted. “You stole five hundred million from the company! You spent one hundred and thirty million of it on your mistress! While Mom walked away with NOTHING!”

‘Your mother got a settlement.”

‘A settlement?” Ria’s voice was incredulous. “What settlement? Mom told me she left with nothing! You didn’t give her a single penny!”

Marco’s face reddened. “The divorce was her choice. She could have stayed.”

So you punished her by giving her nothing?” Ria screamed. “You had five hundred million dollars hidden away and you Jave your wife of seventeen years NOTHING? Not a house. Not money. Not even her fair share of marital assets?”

She didn’t deserve anything after how she acted.”

She acted like a woman whose husband was cheating on her!” Ria was crying now. “She acted like a wife who discovered 1er husband stole half a billion dollars from his own company! And you gave her NOTHING while spending one hundred and thirty million on Margaret!”

I was protecting our family’s future.”

Whose family?” Ria asked quietly. “Because I’m looking around this house, and I don’t see a family. I see a man who destroyed his marriage, abandoned his children’s mother, and committed crimes to fund his mistress’s lifestyle.”

‘I know that when the auditors find those accounts, you’re going to prison,” Ria said bluntly. “I know that when this becomes public, everyone will know that Marco Hart stole five hundred million from his own company to fund his mistress.

Marco’s face crumpled. “Ria, please.”

‘And I know that Lucas and Monica and I are going to have to live with the shame of being the children of a corporate thief who gave his wife nothing while spending one hundred and thirty million on his affair.”

“What do I do?” Marco whispered.

Ria looked at her father and saw not the powerful businessman she had admired, but a broken man who had destroyed everything good in his life.

“You fix this,” Ria said firmly. “You call your lawyer right now and you turn yourself in before the auditors find everything.”

Chapter 88

“I can’t.”

You cau and you will Ria interrupted. “Because I refuse to watch our family’s name get dragged through the mud in a public scandal”

Marco slammed his fist on the desk, sending papers flying. His face was red with rage.

“Turn myself in?” he snarled. “Tum myself in for what? For being smart enough to protect my assets from a vindictive ex- wife?”

Ria stared in disbelief. “Dad, you just admitted to hiding five hundred million dollars.”

“I admitted to nothing!” Marco shouted. “I made strategic business decisions to protect our family’s wealth!”

“Dad, listen to yourself,” Ria pleaded. “You’re talking about Mom like she was some kind of gold-digger. She loved you. She loved our family.”

“Love?” Marco spat. “If she loved me, she would have fought harder in the divorce instead of just walking away.”

“Walking away with NOTHING!” Ria shouted back. “She walked away with nothing while you had five hundred million hidden! You didn’t give her the house. You didn’t give her money. You didn’t give her anything!”

“She chose to leave.”

“So you punished her with poverty while you lived in luxury with stolen company funds?” Ria’s voice broke. “While you spent one hundred and thirty million on Margaret?”

Marco’s face twisted with fury. “I didn’t steal anything! Those accounts were legitimate business protection.”

“Hidden in offshore banks under fake names!” Ria shouted back. “Dad, that’s fraud! That’s criminal!”

“No,” “Marco said, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. “I’m not going anywhere. Because none of this would be happening if it wasn’t for Alexander Kane.”

Ria felt a chill. “What does Alexander have to do with any of this?”

“Everything! This isn’t about justice or audits. This is about Alexander Kane getting his revenge.”

“Revenge for what?”

“For taking her!” Marco’s voice cracked. “He’s been waiting for years to steal Lucia from me. And now he’s using his wealth and connections to destroy me so he can have her!”

Ria stared in horror. “You think Alexander orchestrated this? You think he somehow forced you to hide money and commit fraud?”

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