Chapter 3 - CHAPTER 2: THE UNRAVELING OF RYAN MILLER
Ryan choked, clawing uselessly at Gabriel’s iron grip.
Vanessa bolted toward the ruined front door, but Gabriel didn't even look back. "Lucas," he called out flatly.
A sleek black SUV pulled up onto the front lawn outside, its high beams illuminating the storm outside. A second later, my youngest brother, Lucas Bennett, stepped through the shattered doorway, holding a high-end tablet and wearing a sharp charcoal coat.
Lucas caught Vanessa by the arm before she reached the porch. He didn't hit her; he simply grabbed her purse, pulled out my phone, and handed her over to two large, suited security guards who stepped up behind him.
"Lucas!" I cried out from the armchair, my voice cracking.
"Sophia!" Lucas sprinted past Gabriel and dropped to his knees beside my chair. His face went pale when he saw the deep bruising on my shoulder and the tear in my sleeve. "My God... Sophia, what did they do to you?"
"The baby..." I wept, leaning my head against my brother’s shoulder. "Lucas, he hit me with a club... he thought she wasn't his..."
Lucas’s jaw clenched so hard a muscle twitched in his cheek. He looked over at Ryan, who was currently slumped against the counter, gasping for air after Gabriel released his throat.
"You absolute coward," Lucas whispered, his voice trembling with a rage that matched Gabriel’s. "My brothers and I trusted you with our sister. We financed your firm, we backed your real estate loans, and you let a street-level con artist convince you to attack your pregnant wife?"
"She cheated on me!" Ryan yelled, clutching his neck, his eyes wild with defensive panic. "Vanessa showed me the photos! She showed me the hotel receipts with Dr. Vance!"
"Dr. Vance is Gabriel's uncle, you idiot!" Lucas roared, pulling out his tablet and tapping the screen. He turned the display toward Ryan. "Look at it! Look at the metadata!"
On the screen was a detailed forensic breakdown of the fake hotel records and edited photographs.
"Vanessa manipulated the dates using a basic Photoshop overlay software," Lucas explained, his tone dropping into an icy, professional deadpan. "The woman in those hotel photos wasn't Sophia. It was a hired escort from Toronto wearing a blonde wig. And the chief medical officer, Dr. Vance, wasn't meeting a lover—he was meeting Gabriel six weeks ago to transfer the security files regarding your company's stolen patent software!"
Ryan froze. He looked from the screen to Vanessa, who was being held near the shattered doorway, her face pale as snow.
"What... what patent software?" Ryan stammered.
Gabriel stepped forward, tossing a thick black binder onto the kitchen island. "Your company’s medical logistics software, Ryan. The software Sophia helped you design using her experience at Chicago General. The software you were planning to sell to the state next month."
Gabriel pointed at Vanessa. "She didn't want you, Ryan. She wanted the administrative security keys to the Bennett family trust servers, which were linked to Sophia’s phone. She forged those affair photos so you would assault Sophia, force a divorce, strip her of her custody and inheritance rights, and hand over the trust access to Vanessa’s syndicate."
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Ryan’s mouth opened, but no sound came out. The realization hit him like a physical blow. He looked down at his own hands, then at the wooden club lying on the floor, and finally at me—sitting in the armchair, bruised, bleeding, and clutching my six-month baby bump.
"Sophia..." Ryan whispered, stepping toward me, his hands shaking violently. "Sophia... oh God... what have I done?"
