David carried Lily upstairs into her bright bedroom and sat her on the bed.
He wiped the tears from her red cheeks with a soft paper towel.
He could hear Elena pacing angrily back and forth down in the main hallway.
David knew that his marriage had been growing cold over the past six months.
He had noticed large cash withdrawals coming out of their joint bank account lately.
Every time he asked Elena about the money, she made up a quick excuse.
She always said the money was spent on home repairs or expensive boutique clothes.
Now David felt a strong knot of worry tightening deep inside his stomach.
David: Tell me what happened before I walked back into the house, Lily.
Lily: I was looking for my purple ribbon under the hallway table, daddy.
David: Did you touch anything that belonged to Elena in her room?
Lily: No, but I saw her put papers into the wall safe yesterday.
David: What kind of papers did you see her holding, sweetheart?
Lily: They looked like the papers from your big black office safe downstairs.
David sat up straight on the edge of the blue bed in total surprise.
He owned the family business that his own father had built fifty years ago.
The company was worth millions of dollars and held many valuable stock certificates.
Only two people had the access combination code to his main office safe.
David had given the code to Elena when they were first married two years ago.
He had trusted her completely with all his personal financial documents back then.
David: Stay here in your room and keep the door closed tight, Lily.
Lily: Please do not leave me alone with her again today, daddy.
David: I promise nobody will ever hurt you in this home ever again.
David walked out of the bedroom and marched straight down the carpeted hallway.
He walked directly into the master suite where Elena was standing near her closet.
She was holding a small leather handbag and looked very nervous and jumped slightly.
David: Open the personal safe inside your closet right now, Elena.
Elena: That is my private safe for my gold jewelry and personal items!
David: I am not asking you nicely, open it this second or I call the police.
Elena: You have no right to search through my personal private belongings!
David stepped forward and grabbed the handle of the large dark closet door.
He looked at the digital keypad mounted on the inner wall behind her coats.
Elena stood firmly in front of the keypad and refused to move away.
Elena: You are overreacting just because your spoiled child threw a tiny tantrum!
David: Open this safe right now or our marriage ends this very afternoon.
Elena gritted her teeth and tapped four numbers into the small electronic keypad.
The heavy metal door clicked loudly and swung open in the dim light.
David reached past her and pulled out a thick stack of white papers.
His heart dropped when he saw the official seal at the top page.
It was a fraudulent transfer paper for the entire family estate and property.
Elena had secretly hired a crooked lawyer to sign over his real estate shares.
David: You tried to steal the entire family property behind my back!