💔 PART 4
Two officers stepped forward and locked cold steel handcuffs around Ethan's wrists.
The arrogant smile that had ruled my life for six years was gone.
"What is this?" he shouted. "There has to be a mistake! Call my lawyer! Call the Minister!"
The lead investigator didn't even blink.
"There will be no special treatment tonight."
Vanessa rushed forward, grabbing Ethan's arm.
"You can't arrest him! Do you know who he is?"
The investigator looked at her calmly.
"We know exactly who he is."
He opened the thick investigation file.
"This investigation began three years ago."
"Ethan Carter, you are suspected of large-scale financial fraud, bribery, tax evasion, money laundering, and the illegal transfer of corporate assets."
The room exploded with whispers.
Ethan's face turned ghostly white.
"That's impossible..."
"You have no proof!"
The investigator slowly removed a flash drive from an evidence bag.
"We have everything."
"Financial records."
"Encrypted messages."
"Offshore accounts."
"Witness testimony."
"And someone inside your own company who has been cooperating with us for eleven months."
Ethan froze.
His lips trembled.
"No..."
"Who betrayed me?"
No one answered.
At that moment, the giant LED screen behind the stage suddenly lit up.
Instead of the gala presentation, security footage began to play.
The first video showed Ethan striking one of his employees during a private meeting.
The second showed him accepting bags filled with cash.
The third...
Made the entire ballroom gasp.
It was the video from my own house.
Vanessa could clearly be seen slapping my five-year-old daughter before shoving her into the dark closet.
My daughter's terrified cries echoed through the silent ballroom.
"Mommy!"
"I'm scared!"
"Please let me out!"
Many guests immediately turned away, unable to keep watching.
Several women wiped tears from their eyes.
Vanessa stumbled backward.
"Who... who recorded that?"
I finally spoke.
"I did."
Months ago, after noticing strange bruises on my daughter, I had quietly installed hidden security cameras throughout the house.
I hadn't wanted revenge.
I only wanted the truth.
The truth had found them instead.
Ethan looked at me with desperate eyes.
"You planned this..."
I slowly shook my head.
"No."
"I simply stopped protecting you."
The investigator closed the file.
"Mr. Carter..."
"Everything you built was already collapsing."
"You just didn't know it."
As officers escorted Ethan toward the exit, he suddenly turned around and screamed my name.
"Please!"
"I'll confess!"
"I'll give everything back!"
"Just save me!"
I met his eyes one last time.
"The only person who ever begged for mercy..."
"...was my little girl."
"And you ignored her."
The ballroom doors closed behind him.
Silence filled the room.
But the nightmare wasn't over.
An elderly member of the Henderson Family walked toward me, his expression unusually grave.
He handed me another sealed envelope.
"Young Mistress..."
"This arrived an hour ago."
"It's from your father."
My heart stopped.
"My father died six years ago."
The old man lowered his head.
"That's what everyone believed."
I slowly opened the envelope.
Inside was a single photograph...
A recent photograph.
And standing beside my father...
...was someone I never expected to see alive.
