Chapter 7

I shared my theory with Luke. He had spent the last four years building his network overseas since my wedding, and his connections quickly uncovered the whole scheme.

It was a classic debt transfer scam, a method by which con artists would shift their debts onto unsuspecting victims through elaborate schemes. They essentially used other people's assets to fill their own financial holes.

While Lionel came from a poor background, my parents were renowned college professors who had left me substantial assets, including real estate, valuable artwork, and several retail properties.

Fiona must have gotten her hands on this information early on, but she had underestimated me. Perhaps she thought that after my children's deaths, I would become too depressed to care about anything else.

While she had severely underestimated a mother's determination for revenge, poor, foolish Lionel remained completely in the dark. I wondered how he would feel when he discovered his precious first love