Chapter 15

15 Fraud

**Back to the Present**

Morning arrived along with loud knocking sounds on my bedroom door. That was what woke me up from my restless sleep. I didn’t mind much because I wasn’t able to go to sleep anyways. This was the first time in a long while that I welcomed the arrival of the morning.

I knew right away that it was my mother on the other side of the door and the fact that she was hammering on my door and screaming at the top of her lungs can only mean one thing: the news program beat me to it. They have probably seen, along with the other citizens of this nation, the news regarding my husband’s suicide.

I reached for my phone and saw that I had almost a hundred missed calls from my late husband’s lawyer. That didn’t surprise me. I felt bad for the old man, but I had to wait for a while before returning his call. First, I have to deal with my hysterical mother who was still banging her fists against my bedroom door.

“Good morning...” I said as I opened the door.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“This isn’t the time for good mornings! Is it true? George took his own life? Do you know anything about this?” my mother fired her questions at me in rapid succession.

“Oh please...” I muttered as I pushed passed her to walk through the bedroom door.

“You’re going down to explain to us exactly what is going on!” my mother demanded loudly as she chased after me.

Ignoring her outburst, I continued walking towards the stairs before heading to the first floor. Father was naturally waiting in the living room where he sat on the sofa right in front of the television.

.....

“What does that mean?” my father asked, referring to the news of my husband’s suicide that was being shown on the television.

“You’ll still...inherit everything that he has, right?” my mother asked with widened eyes.

“I guess...” I murmured. To be honest, I had no idea, and I didn’t really care.

“You two are legally married. We were there when you two signed the marriage certificate. I saw it with my own eyes!” my mother said firmly.

“Well, if the police thinks that I had anything to do with it then...” I said before shrugging my shoulders.

“Oh no...don’t tell me...” my mother said after gasping in shock.

Great. My parents didn’t even take a moment to think or hesitate before believing that I could have murdered George. What do they take me for? What do they see me as?

I smirked at them. Why did I even need to ask when I already knew the answer? To them, I was nothing more than a girl that they adopted so that they could train me up and sell to a rich man under the socially acceptable package called ‘A Perfect Wife’ through a contract called ‘marriage’. In my case, George was my purchaser. He bought me.

“Have you seen this?” my father asked, his eyes glued to the screen without looking my way.

“Seen...what?” I asked, not quite getting it.

My father pointed to the television, and I sat down in the sofa next to him to watch. I didn’t think that the news reporter would have anything to say that I didn’t know. George took his own life and that was that. They can try to add in chili and sauce to the story to spice things up to get more public attention but that was normal business for them.

‘The reasons behind Mr. George Westford’s suicide are still unknown. The police are not willing to disclose the situation at the crime scene, but they did say that a suicide note, or letter was not left at the scene. Many are speculating that his suicide has something to do with the exposure of his fraud scheme in multiple of the funds that he used to run before his passing. Along with news of his suicide comes intense pressure from his clients and investors who are demanding for compensation from his fraudulent investment schemes,” a news reporter reported on the screen.

Fraudulent schemes? People are demanding for compensation? What is going on?

“Is this true? Were you aware of this?” my father asked coldly.

“I don’t know...I don’t know anything...” I replied, honestly.

“You don’t know that your husband was a fraud?!” my mother screamed at me.

“No...it can’t be...” I muttered in denial.

“It’s what the news is reporting. The investors are going to sue for compensation. They want their money back! Don’t you know anything about this?” my mother asked in a shriek.

“No...I don’t know anything. George never told me anything...” I replied truthfully.

As if on cue, my phone started ringing. He was the man that I was about to call, George’s lawyer. I stood up and marched off somewhere where I could talk to him in private. I felt my father’s eyes on my back as I marched out of the living room.

“Madame, I’ve been trying my best to reach you,” the lawyer said sternly.

I knew that I must have caused him trouble by not answering his calls. My mind was in too much of a mess for me to talk to anyone.

“I’m sorry. I was...shocked and you know...everything is just a mess. George...he...” I said in frustration before I stopped talking. I realized that I wasn’t making sense anymore.

“Calm down, Madame. Where are you now? I will come over to see you so that we can talk about everything,” the lawyer said calmly.

“I’m at my parent’s house. You can come over, I’ll be waiting for you here,” I said as I tried to keep my voice steady.

“I’ll head over there right now. I should arrive within half an hour. Please hang in there, Madame,” the lawyer said before hanging up.

My hand clenched around my phone after the line disconnected. I shut my eyes tightly and sighed loudly. Lawrence was right, I have to hang in there. Now isn’t the time for me to believe in news and gossip. I should wait to hear the truth about everything from our lawyer.

I made my way back to the living room and found my mother and father sitting at the sofa with very stressful looks on their faces. I couldn’t help but notice that since I stepped foot into this house last night, no one had offered me any kind words of condolences. No one asked how I was feeling or if I needed any help. Both my parents clearly didn’t care about how I was fairing in this messy crisis.

–To be continued...