Chapter 21 The Beginning of the end

Flashback to August 3rd...

As the Uber driver dropped me off at my house, I was utterly and completed exhausted.It had been a long three days, and the red-eye flight back home from Chicago this morning hadn't helped.When I'd gotten the call that my mother had tripped and fallen down a small flight of stairs in her home in Chicago, I'd caught the first flight there.

Her MS had gotten worse in recent years, and she had become very unsteady on her feet at times.She had broken her arm and cracked a couple of ribs, but luckily, the bump on her head hadn't turned out to be too serious.After two days in the hospital, she had been sent to a skilled nursing facility yesterday to recuperate and would probably be there for a few weeks.

I'd flown home to pack more than just the basics that I'd taken with me the first time and planned to drive back to Chicago.I wanted to be there to help support Mom as much as possible.She was worried that she wouldn't be able to continue living alone, and the idea of losing her independence was difficult for her to face. I had already assured her that she would be welcome to move in with David and me, but she was worried about 'becoming a burden' on us. There really was no other solution though.

Mom's brother and nephews lived in Chicago, but she didn't see them often.The relationship was...complicated.I had been surprised when my cousin Conor had shown up in Mom's hospital room the first night.

That was when I learned that her brother, my Uncle Pat, had kept tabs on Mom for years, out of concern for her safety.Conor, his son and second-in-command of the Family, had been sent to visit Mom since Uncle Pat was a little too recognizable.I hadn't seen Conor since I was a little girl.He had been in college then, if I remembered right.Conor had brought one of his top men with him, introducing Liam to me as the one in charge of Mom's security detail. I was surprised that Mom hadn't told me that her brother's men had been her silent shadows for years, but she said she hadn't wanted to worry me.

It was obvious that she knew Liam well, and he stayed for an hour or so after Conor had left that night and returned for a visit the following day as well.Before he left, he had given me a burner phone with his number programmed in.

"Use this to contact me if you need anything. I can pass on messages to Conor or The Boss for you as well," he'd instructed me.

I had told him that I would be flying home early this morning and would drive back tomorrow evening.He'd assured me that he would check in on Mom at the rehabilitation facility while I was gone and would call me with updates daily.

Walking into the quiet house, I was still disappointed that David had gone to Louisville last night. I'd been upset when he told me - because I missed him and needed him - but I had understood.He had meetings there for the next two days, and he couldn't miss them. They had just entered the final stages of the project he and his team had been working on for months. His frequent trips to Louisville, and the long hours he had to put in at the office when he was here, were taking their toll on our relationship.There was a distance between us that had been growing for months, since before my miscarriage even.But I was starting to feel better now, starting to come out of the fog that I had been in for so long now, and I was anxious to get back to the us that we used to be.

Later that morning, I was relaxing on the deck when I got a call from my boss at the publishing house asking me to check on some documents one of her authors needed.I cursed as I realized that in my haste to get to the airport on time this morning, I'd left my damned laptop behind at Mom's house. The weather was beautiful today - not too hot and humid, which was rare for Indiana in August.It would have been nice to be able to stay out here to work, rather than being stuck using the desktop computer we had. As I walked inside, I remembered that I still had my old laptop in the storage closet in the office. I hadn't bothered disposing of it yet, after getting a new one at the beginning of the year.

I grabbed it and went back out to the deck, plugging the charger cord into the outlet next to the grilling station.It took a few minutes for it to boot up, and I searched for the file containing the information for this particular author.I had them saved by the author's name.

As I scrolled down to the V's, trying to locate Vivian LeGrand's name, I noticed a number of files labeled Video, followed by the date.What really caught my eye was the most recent date - only two days ago.That was odd, since this laptop had been stuck on a shelf in the closet for months now.

With a frown, I clicked on the file, and the video appeared on the screen.It was of our home office, showing David sitting at his desk going over something with Vanessa.I turned the volume up, and half-listened as they discussed invoices for some project at work.

I was so distracted trying to figure out why there were cameras in the office, and why this video was saved to this old laptop, that it took several moments before their conversation really registered.I replayed the last few seconds to be sure I'd heard correctly.David was talking about falsifying invoices and padding their expense reports. What the hell?

I sat there, stunned, and before my brain could fully comprehend what was happening, I saw David stand up and grab Vanessa, pull her into his arms and kiss her.I watched in disbelief as the passionate kiss turned into more.I could almost feel my heart shatter moments later as I watched him bend her over his desk and fuck her from behind.

Almost on autopilot, I pushed the button to play the video again.I watched it over and over, barely able to see it through the haze of tears clouding my vision. I listened to it, barely able to hear the moans and grunts through the sound of my own pulse pounding inside my head.I watched as he kissed her and groped her before bending her over and hiking her skirt up. He didn't bother undressing beyond unzipping his pants and pulling down his boxer briefs.

I realized after watching for the third or fourth time that she hadn't been wearing any panties.I noticed how familiar they seemed with each other.There was no shock on Vanessa's face when he put his arms around her.There was no discussion or protest. This clearly wasn't the first time this had happened.

This time, when the video ended, I didn't replay it. I looked back at the list of files and found the date on the earliest video.I spent the next two hours watching them, one by one, until I thought I was losing my mind.

I couldn't put the pieces together in my mind to connect that this David - the vile, disgusting man on the video screen -was actually my David.My loving, caring David, who had won my heart eight years ago with a picnic and a walk in the park.My David, who had been so understanding and supportive when I'd explained that I was unable to have children due to my childhood car accident. My David, who had proposed so sweetly on my 24th birthday.My David, who had bent me over that very desk so many times, who always seemed like he couldn't get enough of me.My David, who was apparently also Vanessa's David, along with what sounded like dozens of other women over the years.

I felt numb, frozen to the very bone, as I listened to David and Scott joking about drugging me and trying to make me believe I was losing my mind.The bile rose in my throat as I listened to David's callous disregard for me and our baby.

I remembered how terrified I had been that night - alone in our house, in pain and bleeding - not able to reach him because he had apparently been out fucking some red-headed slut named Trisha.While I was riding in the back of an ambulance listening to the sirens scream as I worried that I was dying, he was listening to Trisha the screamer, worried that she was so loud the hotel would kick them out.

The pain of his betrayals was overwhelming, to the point that I didn't even really register that he had been stealing from me, and from the architectural firm. It hadn't sunk in that he was gambling, and that he was using drugs.

I was only brought out of my nightmarish thoughts by the ringing of my cell phone.Seeing Sherry's name on the caller ID, I let it go to voice mail.Sherry would act in an instant.That was the way she was. She would confront David immediately and have me filing for divorce by morning. I needed to process this a little before I talked to her. My world had just imploded, and the dust needed to settle before anyone could inspect the rubble for any signs of life.

By the time Liam called the burner phone an hour or so later with his promised daily update on my mother, I was just drunk enough to answer the phone. He could barely understand me through my sobs.

"What's wrong, Princess?" he asked with concern.The faint lilt in his voice hinted at his Irish roots.

I poured out the whole story, and by the time I'd finished, he'd told me he would be here later this afternoon.

He arrived a little over three hours later.He found the hidden camera in the office within moments of viewing part of the first video.In a matter of minutes, he determined that David was using the laptop as an external drive to which all the videos were saved.He spent the next several hours combing through the computer and found hundreds of videos showing mundane activities, which had been deleted from the folder, but were still on the hard drive.

Around midnight, after showing Liam to the guest room, I tried to go to sleep.I laid down on our bed and as I fluffed my pillow, I got a whiff of perfume that wasn't mine.Stomach heaving, I made a mad dash for our bathroom, barely making it to the toilet before I threw up.

I went back downstairs and grabbed the bottle of rum I'd been drinking from before Liam called. I fell asleep on the couch - the rum helped - and awoke to the sight of Liam sitting at the table in the breakfast nook. He'd made a pot of coffee and breakfast. I tuned away from both, as the smell made my stomach turn again. I nibbled on some dry toast to soak up the last of the alcohol.

He told me that he needed to call his boss, my cousin Conor.I heard him on his speakerphone, filling Conor in on David's cheating, gambling, and drug use.He explained about drugging me with his sleeping pills and trying to gaslight me.He told him what we knew so far about the mortgage fraud, and embezzling money from my accounts.

Conor cursed fluently throughout the conversation, raging that anyone had been stupid enough to try that kind of shit on a Flanagan.He told Liam that he would put their 'money men' on it, and they would be able to unravel the schemes pretty quickly.When I questioned Liam about that later, he laughed.

"They launder money for your uncle, Princess.Who better to figure out a scheme like this than guys whose lives literally depend on their ability to do the very same thing?"

Before he returned to Chicago, he wiped the videos of us in the office from the laptop completely and had set it up so that the videos would be sent to my burner phone as well from here on out.

"You're gonna need all the evidence of his scams you can get before you file for divorce," he advised me.

Later that evening, I ignored both the call and the text that I received from David.I rolled my eyes at his "I miss you so much.Since you didn't answer, I hope that means you're getting some sleep.Love you, talk to you tomorrow." Lying bastard.

I sent a text to Sherry apologizing for missing her call earlier.I told her I'd gotten caught up dealing with a problem at work and was heading to bed after a long day.I promised to call her tomorrow but ended up just texting her instead.I still wasn't steady enough to talk to her without bursting into tears, and she knew me too well.

The next day, I changed the sheets in the guest room that Liam had stayed in, leaving the nasty sheets on our bed for David to deal with. I got in my car and headed back to Chicago, mulling over everything I had learned. The pain and heartache of his betrayal was giving way to disbelief and anger. That evening, I answered a knock at Mom's door to find Conor and Liam standing on the stoop, both looking mad as hell.

Conor paced angrily around the living room as Liam explained what my uncle's men had discovered so far. In a little more than 24 hours, they had discovered over three million dollars missing.I asked how they found the information so quickly, and Conor stopped pacing long enough to give me a smug grin.

"We got a guy, girlie.He knows computers and shit." I assumed he meant a hacker, and I didn't ask any more questions.

Between daily visits to sit with my mom at the nursing facility, I fielded calls and visits from Liam and Conor, updating me with each new find.By the end of the week, my anger had morphed into an all-encompassing rage.

While sharing a pizza and a bottle of wine with Conor and Liam, they explained that David had added himself onto the deed for the condo, taken a mortgage out on it in my name, and had moved his mistress in rent-free.I was livid and spoke without thinking.

"Oh God, I could just kill David for this," I fumed.

Conor and Liam shared a look, and Conor turned to me."We can make that happen."