CHAPTER 19: KENDRA'S SECRET
With the lawsuit behind me, I started digging into Kendra's past.
I couldn't shake the feeling that she had been more involved than she let on. She had been too quick to join my mother's defamation suit. Too eager to paint herself as the innocent victim.
I hired a private investigator. His name was Marcus Bell. He was a former FBI agent with a reputation for finding the truth.
"Evelyn," he said, "I found something interesting."
"Tell me."
"Kendra had a bank account your brother didn't know about. It's been active for years. And recently, there were large withdrawals."
"How large?"
"Almost two hundred thousand dollars. All paid to a shell company."
"What company?"
He slid a document across the table.
"Your brother's company. The one he used to siphon money from your parents' accounts."
I stared at the document.
"Kendra was part of the embezzlement?"
"Not just part. She was the architect. She set up the shell company. She managed the transfers. She funneled the money into accounts Preston didn't know about."
"She was using him."
"Exactly. She was planning to leave him after the wedding. She had a separate bank account, a separate identity, and a one-way ticket to Brazil."
I felt a chill run down my spine.
"So when Preston assaulted Sophie, Kendra didn't intervene because she wanted him to be arrested?"
"Probably. She knew the wedding was ruined either way. But if Preston went to prison, she could keep all the money."
I sat back in my chair. Kendra had been playing everyone. My mother. My father. Preston. Even me.
"Can we prove this?" I asked.
"Yes. I have the bank statements. The wire transfers. The communications with the shell company."
"Then let's go public."
"Are you sure?"
"I've never been more sure of anything."
I released the evidence to the press.
The story exploded.
Kendra was exposed as a schemer, a manipulator, and a thief. She tried to run, but the FBI caught her at the airport. She was arrested and charged with fraud, embezzlement, and conspiracy.
She went to prison.
And I watched her fall.
Not with satisfaction.
But with relief.
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Because I had finally learned the whole truth.
And I had finally won.
