The Billionaire Ex-Wife's Return (Cynthia and Ethan) novel Chapter 84

Julian met us at the entrance, barefoot in sweatpants and a faded Sorbonne T–shirt, laptop tucked under one arm. The moment he saw our faces, his easy smile vanished.

“What happened?” he asked, voice low, already bracing.

“Long story,” Nathaniel muttered.

Lily started squirming in my arms, her little face scrunching up with discomfort. She’d been through too much excitement today – the restaurant, the shouting, the car ride. She needed her mother.

“Guess it’s time to meet Mommy,” Nathaniel said, reaching for his daughter.

But before he could take her from me, his phone rang.

He glanced at the screen. “It’s the legal team.”

We all went quiet as he answered, putting it on speaker so we could hear.

“Mr. Laurent, we have an update on the Walker Industries investigation.”

“Go ahead.”

The lawyer’s voice was measured, careful. “The matter is more complicated than we initially thought. Frankly, sir, it’s fortunate we hadn’t taken drastic measures by suing Ethan Walker and Walker Industries already.”

I exchanged glances with my brothers.

“Explain,” Nathaniel said.

“It appears that Ethan Walker may not have been directly involved in the sabotage.”

My heart stuttered.

“That’s why there were loopholes in the evidence,” the lawyer continued. “The Walker Industries account that transferred money to Dragon’s account…it was fabricated. A shell account created using the company’s name, but it actually belonged to someone in the outskirts of Galos.”

“Galos?” Kevin frowned. “That’s fifteen hours away.”

“Exactly. The trail was designed to point toward Walker Industries while the actual source was elsewhere.”

Julian leaned forward. “How did you discover this?”

There was a pause on the line. “We had to conduct some… unofficial research.”

“Illegally?” I asked, my voice sharp.

“Ms. Cynclair, there is no way to get to the root of something like this without accessing certain information through unconventional channels. That’s simply how these things work. Nothing is ever as legal as it seems.”

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I looked at Nathaniel, who nodded grimly. He understood this world far better than I did.

“What was found during this research?” Nathaniel pressed.

“Anna Walker.”

The name landed like a bomb in the room.

“She’s been wiring funds from her personal account to that shell account in Galos. Regularly. Over the past several months.” The lawyer paused. “There appears to be someone else she’s working with…someone who helped set up the infrastructure for this operation. We’re still trying to identify them.”

“So Ethan wasn’t involved?” I asked, hating how hopeful my voice sounded.

“We’re approximately eighty percent certain he had no knowledge of this scheme. The remaining twenty percent is simply because… anyone can be clever enough to exclude themselves entirely. We can’t rule it out completely until we have more

information.”

Nathaniel nodded slowly. “What do you recommend?”

“Hold off on any legal action until we’ve traced the full network. If we move too soon, we might alert whoever Anna is working with, and they’ll cover their tracks.”

“Understood. Keep me updated.”

“Yes, sir.”

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