I Was His Wife for 8 Years, He Paid Me Like a Maid Chapter 09
The Ashford Corp audit lasted a full week.
The family account Vivian managed received five million every month.
She’d used shell vendors to fabricate bills for gowns, jewelry, and travel.
Then she’d funneled the money into companies she controlled.
During the audit, Vivian tried to delete the books during a system upgrade.
But Damon hadn’t let her near the servers this time.
He’d handed access to a third–party forensic accounting firm.
The deleted records were recovered from backups, one by one.
Even her cut to the resale vendors was documented.
The five thousand she’d sent me every month?
That was intentional. Just enough to make me ask for more.
And every time I asked, Vivian had millions in fake bills to prove I was greedy.
Gemma had received plenty of bags and jewelry over the years.
Many of them billed under my name.
When the auditors questioned her, her face went pale.
“Vivian said the brands were lending them to me.”
“I had no idea they were charged to Sloane.”
Damon didn’t protect her. “You took them. You’ll return every piece.”
Eleanor was called in to review the family expenses too.
When she reached Grandma Ashford’s medication costs, she discovered the so–called monthly nursing fees
had all been pocketed by Vivian.
The person actually paying at the pharmacy had always been me.
She remembered the three boxes of discounted peaches being taken off the table.
Her lips moved. But no excuse came out.
When Vivian was called into the conference room, she was still composed.
“Mr. Ashford, I’ve worked for you for eight years.”
“You’re really going to hand me over for Sloane?”
Damon pushed the evidence across the table.
“It’s not for her.”
“It’s because you took money that wasn’t yours.”
Vivian laughed.
“Fine. I took it.”
“But when I said she was spending millions a month, you believed it instantly.”
“When I said she was going to hotels at night, you never asked about the injuries on her hands.”
“Damon, I didn’t fool you.”
“You just always believed she was nothing but a pretty face who didn’t deserve you.”
No one in the room spoke. Because he couldn’t deny it.
That afternoon, the hospital sent over old payment records.
Grandma Ashford’s surgery deposit from last year had come from the sale of my limited edition bag.
The old woman, in a rare moment of clarity, grabbed Damon’s arm.
“Where’s Sloane’s bag?”
“She said you work too hard for your money. She said saving my life mattered more. She’d buy it back
someday.”
Damon looked down.
The medicine cabinet was covered in labels written in my handwriting.
I’d cared for the Ashford family for eight years.
And I’d never once used it to ask for a kind word.
After Vivian was handed over to the authorities, Damon showed up with the recovered money, property
deeds, and shares.
I only accepted what Lily was owed in child support.
I didn’t take a cent more.
“Why don’t you understand?”
“Money was never what we were missing.”
Damon pulled out the wooden box he’d kept sealed for eight years.
Inside was the marriage certificate he’d never given me.
I raised my hand.
The old gold bracelet was gone.
I’d had it melted down and recast into a locket for Lily.
A mother’s keepsake, not a wife’s chain.
