My Sister Popped The Bubble Of My Happy Marriage Chapter 11

Matteo didn’t leave with my parents.

The next day, he contacted Anthony on his own and offered to hand over the company’s internal ledgers, on

the condition that his own projects be protected as much as possible. The ledgers he brought recorded

multiple transfers of trust income and the money flows between Santoro Holdings and affiliated companies.

It was only part of it.

He sat in the meeting room, his expression dark.

“The rest of the accounts are still at the company. If I hand everything over, can my projects survive?”

I looked at him.

“You didn’t come to me because you know you were wrong.”

“You came because you found out Father gave Serafina more money than he gave you.”

Matteo’s face twisted.

“You’re going after them anyway. Don’t you need the evidence?”

“I do.”

I put a recorder on the table.

“But evidence only proves what you did. It doesn’t get you off the hook. And it doesn’t buy my forgiveness.”

The ledgers quickly exposed more problems.

Father had used affiliated companies to move large amounts of trust income into a cultural company

registered under Serafina’s name.

Her so-called independent business, from office rent to staff salaries, was all propped up by my assets.

That afternoon, Serafina found her way to me.

She wasn’t wearing makeup. Her eyes were red and swollen. The pale scar on her wrist stood out.

“Celeste, I really didn’t know that money was yours.”

“Dad only said it was family support.”

She sat down across from me and tugged at my sleeve the way she used to when we were kids.

“If I had known, I never would have taken it.”

I pulled my arm away.

Anthony took three signed receipts for trust benefit notices out of the file.

“Ms. Santoro, all three of these documents have your signature. The first was sent while you were studying

abroad. The second when you started your company. The third was two years ago.”

The color drained from her face.

“I sign too many documents. I don’t remember.”

“Then what about this email?”

I pushed a printout of correspondence Anthony had pulled from the trust administrator’s files toward her.

In the email, Serafina had asked whether the temporary administrator could continue controlling trust

income if the beneficiary never applied for it. The reply was clear. The temporary administrator could only act according to the trust terms and had no authority to transfer income to themselves or other family

members.

And not long after she received that reply, she started covering Dante’s tracks.

Now I understood why she had helped me investigate for two years, only to make me doubt whether I was

being too suspicious again and again.

She wasn’t just afraid I would find out about the affair.

She was more afraid that I would give up completely, leave the Santoro family, and take back what was

rightfully mine.

I stared at her.

“You spent my money. You slept with my husband. And now you expect me to be grateful just because you let me keep the title of ‘wife’?”

Serafina’s tears kept falling.

“I was just afraid of losing. Growing up, everyone always said I was the sensible one. But the moment you cried, Mom and Dad’s attention went straight to you. So I kept being good to you-trying to prove I deserved

their love more than you did.”

I looked at her and suddenly felt like I was staring at a stranger.

“But everything was always yours. Our parents’ favor. Dante’s love. And the money that should have been

mine.”

Her head shot up, as if she wanted to argue, but no words came out.

The meeting room door suddenly opened.

Dante stood in the doorway. He had clearly followed Serafina here.

He looked at the trust notices on the table, then at the email.

Serafina stood up immediately. “Dante, let me explain.”

He didn’t walk toward her. “So you knew all along that Celeste had the means to leave Santoro. And you kept telling me she couldn’t survive without us.”

Serafina’s outstretched hand froze in midair.

Dante didn’t say another word.

pushed the recovery list toward Serafina. It listed the cultural company under her name, two properties, and

the trust fund flows that had been traced so far.

“How much of those assets came from the trust will be determined by the audit and the legal process.”

I looked at her.

“Serafina, everything you owe is coming back to you. You won’t get away with a single thing.”