The next morning, Nathan sat inside Marcus's high-rise legal office in downtown Dallas.
Thick stacks of financial files and bank statements covered the long glass conference table.
Marcus paced back and forth in front of a white whiteboard covered in diagrams.
Marcus: We found suspicious monthly payments from your father's trust fund, Nathan.
Nathan: Where was the money going every month?
Marcus: To a private investigator firm located in Houston, Texas.
Nathan leaned forward, his jaw clenching as he examined the banking spreadsheets closely.
The payments had started five years ago, right around the time Sarah disappeared without trace.
Nathan: Victoria was using my family's wealth to track and isolate my wife.
Marcus: It gets worse, Nathan.
Marcus placed a signed affidavit directly in front of Nathan on the table.
Marcus: The private investigator agreed to talk in exchange for immunity from prosecution.
Nathan: What did he reveal to you?
Marcus: Victoria paid him to forge a fake farewell note five years ago.
Nathan remembered the heartbreaking note he had found on his kitchen counter back then.
He had spent five long years believing that Sarah had simply abandoned him voluntarily.
Nathan: She made me believe the woman I loved had walked away from me.
Marcus: Victoria wanted complete control over your father's seventy million dollar estate.
Marcus: If you had a child with Sarah, the trust fund would pass to them.
Nathan stood up slowly, a cold and calculated determination settling over his entire mind.
Nathan: She committed grand larceny, wire fraud, and kidnapping by coercion.
Marcus: The judge just signed the emergency order for custody and DNA verification.
At that moment, the door to the office opened and Elena walked in with Maya.
The small girl wore a brand new yellow dress and bright white sneakers.
She ran straight over to Nathan and wrapped her tiny arms around his leg.
Maya: Look, Daddy, Elena bought me new shoes today!
Nathan scooped his daughter up into his arms and kissed her forehead gently.
Nathan: You look like a beautiful princess, sweetie.
Maya: Are we going back to the big house soon?
Nathan: Yes, Maya, we are going back to take what belongs to us.
Marcus smiled grimly as he gathered his legal briefcase from the desk.
Marcus: The sheriff's deputies are meeting us at the mansion in thirty minutes.
Nathan: Let us go end this nightmare once and for all.