“You need to be sitting down for this,” Abigail warned.
“What happened?” Gretchen’s pulse spiked.
“We looked into Maxine’s college trust,” Abigail said carefully.
The fund had been set up the month Maxine was born, meant to secure her tuition.
“It’s holding far less than it should,” Abigail went on. “Nearly three hundred thousand dollars has been pulled out over the past year and a half.”
“Joshua would never touch our daughter’s money,” Gretchen said instantly.
Even as she said it, she no longer believed it herself.
“Every dollar landed in the same accounts tied to Cheyenne,” Abigail said plainly.
Gretchen pressed a hand to her mouth. An affair was cruel. Hiding assets was a serious betrayal. But draining their daughter’s future to fund a lifestyle was something else entirely.
That night Joshua came home with takeout containers.
“This whole thing will be over soon,” he said, smiling.
Gretchen watched him unpack the food as if he were still a dependable father.
“Yes,” she said quietly. “It will.”
Two days later, they arrived at the mediation office downtown.
Joshua strode in wearing a tailored gray suit, confident he was there to sign routine paperwork, not face consequences. Near the elevators, Cheyenne stood pretending to check her phone, looking flawless.
