Faking It With The Hockey Star

Justin’s POV

I sat back against the cold balcony wall, gripping the phone until my knuckles turned white, listening in harrowing silence while the investigator laid bare the horrifying truth.

"She initially believed she could gain total control through your father," he explained quietly over the line.

"By marrying him?" I asked, my voice flat, hollowed out by the sheer magnitude of the betrayal.

"Eventually."

I turned my head away, staring out into the dark skyline.

"But your mother had protections in place," he continued, a faint trace of admiration slipping into his tone. "Your mother was far smarter than Diane ever anticipated. She had laid down ironclad legal layers of protection around her company. Certain strategic decisions required specific board approvals, and the ownership structures were vastly more complicated than Diane realized."

"So she couldn’t simply walk in and take it," I stated, the cold logic clicking together like lock tumblers.

"No." His voice dropped into a somber, gravelly whisper. "And that was precisely when things changed."

I already knew the dark turn he was about to articulate. Still, hearing the words aloud made my stomach churn violently.

"She started working around your mother instead of trying to dismantle the company directly."

My free hand curled into a bone-crushing fist against my knee. "How?"

"I don’t want to speculate on every single detail until you open the encrypted files I’m sending over," he cautioned. "But the financial records show a meticulous, gradual pattern over the years."

"What pattern?"

"Money moving."

I stared straight ahead, my jaw locking tight. "From the company?"

"Yes."

"To accounts Diane controlled indirectly."

"Offshore?" I pressed, the pulse thumping wildly in my throat.

"Yes."

"Swiss?"

"One of the primary transfer routes was through hidden Swiss accounts."

I let out a slow, ragged breath, the bitter cold air stinging my lungs. "So she was systematically stealing from the company."

"Diverting funds, disguising paper trails, creating multiple corporate buffers between herself and the stolen capital," he clarified. "That is exactly what the financial records indicate."

"And my father?" A bitter, dangerous edge coated my words. "He was just blindly oblivious to all of it?"

"He wasn’t fully aware of the true extent of what she was doing."

I let out a harsh, mocking laugh. "How convenient for him."

"I didn’t say he was innocent, Justin."

That single line instantly shut me up. The quiet weight behind it hit me like a physical blow.

"Your father’s secret gambling habit became her primary vulnerability to exploit," the investigator continued steadily.

I went completely rigid. "What?"

"Diane was secretly bankrolling and covering his massive gambling debts behind the scenes."

I felt the blood drain entirely from my face, a terrifying coldness taking over my body. "She was?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Control." The answer came back instantly, cold and clinical. "She manufactured a toxic dependency. Whenever he was backed into a corner and needed millions to cover his losses, she provided it. And whenever she wanted something signed, she possessed absolute leverage over him."

I looked down at my hand, watching it tremble slightly against the dark fabric of my pants. "So when their marriage started breaking down..."

"She violently increased the pressure."

"On him?"

"Yes."

"What was she pressuring him to do?"

"Hand over full operational control of the assets," he revealed. "Make her authority official. Grant her legal access to the core accounts."

I swallowed hard over the thick lump in my throat as the pieces crashed together in my head. The rushed documents. The sudden marital disputes. The prenuptial agreement that had never made sense to me as a kid.

"Wait." My voice dropped to an icy whisper. "The prenup."

"Yes."

"She wanted that prenup drafted because she knew something irreversible was about to happen."

"Exactly."

Something dark and sharp inside me snapped violently into place. "She wanted ultimate legal protection."

"She wanted total ownership."

I stared into the abyss of the night, my chest heaving. "If something happened to my father..."

"She wanted to be the sole entity positioned to assume control."

"But the company was never his to give away."

"No." The investigator’s tone sharpened, carrying an unwavering gravity. "That is one of the most vital facts you must understand, Justin."

I said nothing, barely breathing.

"Your mother owned that company," he said softly. "Your father merely managed it under her authority. Diane eventually realized that truth. And once she understood that she could never strip the empire away while your mother was alive and actively defending her legacy..."

He abruptly cut himself off.

I waited in the heavy, suffocating silence, the pounding of my heart deafening in my ears.

"She changed the game," he whispered.

Silence stretched across the line. I knew the terrifying horror his words carried, but the son in me needed him to utter the exact words.

"Are you telling me she murdered my mother because she couldn’t take the company?"

"I am telling you that every piece of forensic and medical evidence we’ve uncovered points directly toward a slow, deliberate effort to permanently remove your mother from the equation."

My breathing slowed to a terrifyingly quiet crawl. "Poisoning."

"Yes."

"She slowly poisoned her," I said, the words tasting like ash on my tongue. "Day by day."

"That is precisely what the medical files, altered prescription records, and toxicology reports indicate."

I closed my eyes tightly, a sudden, blinding agony tearing through my chest.

My mother.

Her unexplainable decline. The endless, confusing hospital visits. Her sudden, agonizing weakness. The fog that had slowly stolen her bright mind. All those horrific years, I had been forced to believe she was simply dying of an aggressive, natural illness.

My hands began to shake uncontrollably with a furious, overwhelming rage.

"And my father?" I squeezed out. "What was he in all of this?"

"He became the unwitting conduit she used to administer it."

"Did he fucking know?"

"That is a question the prosecutors and defense attorneys will have to fight over in court."

I bit my lip so hard I tasted copper, refusing to let the sob in my chest break free.

"There is one more critical piece," the investigator broke the silence.

I forced my eyes open, staring blankly into the dark. "What?"

"Diane’s biological father."