Three months after winning the case, I opened a small shop in the vige selling daily necessities and snacks, Business was pretty decent.


    My baby was three months old now, smiling and babbling. Watching him grow a little more each day made all the hardship worth it.


    That afternoon, I was organizing shelves in the store when little Tommy from the vige rushed in. “Elena, someone’s looking for you outside. They’re driving a really nice car.”


    My heart skipped, thinking it might be Gabriel again, but when I went outside, I saw a middle–aged stranger.


    “Are you Ms. Elena Foster?” the man asked politely.


    “Yes, I am. And you are?”


    “I’m the legal department director at Cross Corporation.” The man handed me a business card. “I’d like to discuss some matters regarding Mr. Gabriel Hayes.”


    I looked at the card. Cross Corporation was a bigpany – what did they have <i>to </i>do with Gabriel?


    “Mr. Gabriel Hayes is a project manager at ourpany, but we recently discovered he’s suspected of embezzling project funds.” The man looked serious. “Our investigation shows most of this money was spent on personal expenses. luxury items, and such.”


    My heart jolted, remembering Vera’s gold bracelet and expensive clothes.


    “What does this have to do with me?” I asked.


    “During our investigation, we found that Mr. Hayes repeatedly imed these expenses were for family needs, including your medical bills and such.” The man paused. “We need your cooperation to verify whether these ims


    are true.”


    I immediately understood – Gabriel had med all the money he’d spent on Vera on me.


    “I can cooperate with the investigation.” My voice was calm “But I need to see the specific records.”


    The man pulled out a file from his bag. “These are his expense records. You can look through them and tell us what was actually spent on you.”


    As I flipped through those records, my heart grew colder and colder.


    From the baby’s birth until I left<b>, </b>I hadn’t seen a penny of any expenses Gabriel had imed externally.


    All those supposed nutritional supplements, baby supplies, and medical costs were lies he’d made up to cover where the money really went.


    52.3<b>% </b>


    <b>“</b>I can provide written testimony.” I closed the file. “This money definitely wasn’t spent on me and my child.”


    A weekter, Gabriel was fired from thepany and faced criminal charges.


    When the news reached the vige, Aunt Martha shook her head. “That kind of person was bound to get what’sing to him.”


    I didn’t feel any satisfaction from his misfortune – just exhaustion.


    The man I’d once loved desperately had been a fraud from beginning to end.


    That night, I got a call from Vera.


    “This is all your fault, bitch!” she screamed hysterically. “If you hadn’t ratted him out, none of this would’ve happened!”


    “I didn’t rat out anyone.” My voice was calm. “He did what he did, now he’s dealing with the consequences.”


    “You think you’re so high and mighty?” Vera’s voice was sharp as a knife “He’s unemployed now – what are me and my kid supposed to do?”


    “That’s not my problem.” I hung up directly.


    Holding my baby by the window, looking at the distant mountains and peaceful night, I felt for the first time how quiet and beautiful the world could be.


    All that messy drama from the past could finally be turned to a closed chapter.