PART 3
The mansion was legally mine again.
But walking through its front doors didn't feel like victory.
It felt like walking through the ruins of a life someone else had stolen.
Sarah stood beside me, still holding Jamie's hand.
Jamie looked around with wide eyes.
"Dad..."
"Yeah, buddy?"
"Can we really stay inside now?"
The question cut deeper than any betrayal.
I crouched until I was eye level with him.
"This is your home."
He hesitated.
"For real?"
"For the rest of your life."
He smiled so brightly that for a moment, every courtroom, every desert work camp, every sleepless night I'd spent in Saudi Arabia felt worth surviving.
Over the next several weeks, investigators uncovered more than anyone imagined.
The fraud hadn't lasted five years.
It had started just eight months after I left for Saudi Arabia.
At first, my mother had only "borrowed" money.
Five thousand dollars here.
Ten thousand there.
She always intended to pay it back.
At least, that's what she told investigators.
Then Victor Kane entered her life.
He introduced himself as an investment consultant.
He promised impossible returns.
Luxury real estate.
Private equity.
Offshore funds.
Within months, every dollar I sent for Sarah and Jamie was flowing into shell companies Victor controlled.
The mansion.
The luxury cars.
The parties.
The expensive jewelry.
Almost none of it had been purchased outright.
It had all been financed using my monthly transfers as proof of income.
When investigators finished tracing the accounts...
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More than $1.2 million had passed through them.
Almost every dollar had started with me.
