“And Mom… there’s something else. Something big. Aisha found more.”
Aisha—my sister. A retired cop turned private investigator.
My heart dropped. “What did she find?”
“She’s coming here now,” Elijah said. “But before she does… you need to be ready.”
“Ready for what?” I whispered.
He looked at me with a pain I’d never seen in his eyes.
“For the truth about Dad that will change everything.”
And before I could ask another question—
Aisha’s car pulled into the driveway.
And the real nightmare began.
Aisha walked into my kitchen with a folder so thick it looked like a legal brief for a murder trial. Her face was grim—tight lips, sharp eyes, no trace of softness.
“Simone,” she said quietly, “you need to sit.”
My stomach knotted. Elijah stayed beside me, his hand gripping mine.
Aisha opened the folder.
“The affair with Madison isn’t new,” she began. “It’s been going on longer than Elijah suspected. And Franklin didn’t just cheat. He financed the affair using money he stole from you.”
I forced myself to breathe. “How much?”
She slid a document toward me. “More than sixty thousand dollars withdrawn from your retirement over eighteen months. Every withdrawal forged.”
My vision blurred. “He used my future to pay for hotel rooms with her?”
“That’s only the beginning,” Aisha said.
She clicked her laptop and showed us bank statements. “Madison’s been embezzling too. Small amounts at first, then larger sums. She funneled over two hundred thousand dollars from her law firm into a shell company. I traced some purchases directly to gifts for Franklin.”
My skin crawled. They were stealing—from me, from her employers—to fund their own twisted fantasy.
“And that’s not the worst part,” Aisha continued softly.
Elijah stiffened. “Tell her.”
Aisha looked at me with a mixture of anger and sorrow. “Fifteen years ago, Franklin had an affair with a coworker. That woman had a daughter shortly after. A girl named Zoe.”
My heart stopped.
Elijah spoke gently. “Mom… the DNA test came back. Aisha got Franklin’s toothbrush last night.”
Aisha slid another page toward me.
“Probability of paternity: 99.999%.”
