Lahat ng Kabanata ng Break Me, Step-Daddy : Kabanata 161 - Kabanata 170

Lisa's pov The moment I stepped outside the courtroom, the weight of everything that had happened seemed to settle heavily across my shoulders. I followed Erin and the others silently, barely noticing the people passing around me.By the time we reached home, I was exhausted enough to collapse, but my mind refused to rest. I dropped my handbag beside the dining table and placed the files from court directly in front of me.I opened the first folder and began going through the documents again, even though I already knew most of their contents. Somehow, reading everything again felt easier than sitting alone with my thoughts.The financial records were the worst. Every page seemed to reveal another transaction connected to accounts I didn't recognize, companies I barely remembered, and payments that made Erin's case against Mom look stronger.I rubbed my forehead and stared at one particular statement for several minutes. “Where did this account come from?” I whispered, tracing the unf

Erin's povI sat at my desk, surrounded by documents I had recovered from Julie's room, comparing each one against the evidence already gathered for the case. The deeper I went, the more certain I became that something had been deliberately hidden.Several financial records contained dates that didn't match the transactions attached to them. Some payments appeared to have been moved between accounts long after they were originally made, creating a trail that pointed toward people who might never have been involved.I picked up another document and compared its date with an older statement from the embezzlement investigation. The numbers were close enough to look legitimate at first glance, but the timing was wrong.“This wasn't an accounting mistake,” I muttered under my breath, narrowing my eyes at the document as I traced one particular transaction with my finger. “Someone deliberately moved these transactions around.”I placed the document beside the others and leaned back in my ch

Erin's pov I sat across from Lisa, staring at the woman I had once loved enough to believe I could spend my entire life beside. Six years had passed, yet explaining why I left still felt harder than facing any courtroom.I opened the folder between us and slowly released a breath. There was no point hiding anymore. The secrets had already damaged both of us, and keeping them buried would only give them more power over our lives.“Six years ago, I didn't understand what Julie was actually doing,” I explained quietly, resting my hands against the edge of the folder. “I thought I was helping resolve the embezzlement case because she made everything look legitimate.” The memory still left bitterness in my mouth.Lisa stared at me without blinking, clearly trying to understand what I was telling her. Her fingers tightened around the edge of her chair, but she remained silent, waiting for me to continue.“Your mother approached me during the investigation and convinced me that certain deci

Lisa's povFor several seconds, I couldn't speak after Erin's confession. His words kept replaying in my mind, especially the part about never leaving because he stopped loving me. Six years of believing I had been abandoned suddenly felt uncertain, but that didn't mean the pain disappeared. If anything, it became harder to understand.“So you loved me all this time?” I finally asked, staring at him across the table. My voice sounded smaller than I wanted it to. Erin nodded slowly, his eyes never leaving mine. “I did,” he admitted quietly. “I never stopped, Lisa, even when I convinced myself staying away was the only choice.”I looked down at the photograph between us, trying to control the emotions building inside me. “Then why didn't you come back?” I asked, lifting my eyes toward him again. “You eventually realized something was wrong, didn't you? You knew Bruce had lied, so why did you still stay away from me?”Erin lowered his gaze, and for the first time since he arrived, he lo

Erin's povThe following morning, I called Megan and Brandon separately and asked if they could meet me somewhere quiet where we could go through everything without being disturbed. I didn't want another rushed conversation over the phone, especially with how complicated the old records had become. We needed to sit down, spread the evidence out, and understand exactly what we had.By late morning, we met at a small café away from the busy part of town. It was calm inside, with only a few people sitting at different tables, and the soft music in the background made it easy for us to talk without attracting attention. I arrived first and chose a table in the corner where we could keep the files between us.“We need to go through everything again,” I told Megan and Brandon when they arrived, placing my folder on the table as they took their seats. “There are too many connections showing up now, and I don't want us to miss something important because we're looking at each piece separatel