Chapter 3 - The Fake Therapist
The next morning, I posted Matthew’s exorbitant bail using my retirement savings.
He walked out of the holding cell looking like a completely broken man.
We drove in utter silence to my house, completely avoiding the home he shared with Olivia.
Once he was safely resting in the guest bedroom, I opened my laptop and began my own investigation.
I remembered the word Olivia had used at the restaurant to justify her cruelty.
She had mentioned a therapist.
I logged into Matthew’s joint bank account, which he had thankfully given me access to years ago for emergencies.
I scrolled through months of transactions until I found a recurring charge for an exorbitant amount of money.
It was billed to a company called "Apex Wellness Consulting."
I searched the business registry and found a physical address located in a run-down strip mall on the edge of the city.
I drove there immediately, my heart pounding a frantic rhythm against my ribs.
The office had blacked-out windows and a single, unmarked door.
I walked inside and found a woman sitting behind a cheap metal desk, furiously shredding documents.
She looked up, her eyes widening in panic as she recognized me from the restaurant.
“You’re Linda,” the woman whispered, stepping back from the paper shredder.
“And you’re the fake therapist,” I countered, locking the door behind me.
She wasn't a doctor at all; she was a former pharmaceutical sales rep who had lost her license for fraud.
“Olivia paid me to convince Matthew that he needed to cut you out of his life,” the woman confessed, her voice shaking.
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“She needed you gone so you wouldn’t notice the massive amounts of money she was laundering through his accounts.”
Olivia had orchestrated my estrangement simply to eliminate a witness.
