Chapter 4

The court summons came right on time.

The day before the hearing, I went back to the old office address.

The place had already been cordoned off, and the entrance was piled high with wreaths and banners from debt collectors.

The once glorious internet finance giant was now a total mess.

I ran into an old coworker across the street, and he was now so broke he was driving for a rideshare app.

“Ethan, what are you doing back here?” He handed me a cigarette, and his hand was still shaking.

“I came back to get something.”

“Don’t bother. All the systems have been sealed, and the boss ran off long ago.”

“We’ve all become scapegoats.”

“Especially you. You handled so many large transfers, and now people outside are saying you took several hundred million and ran.”

He patted my shoulder.

“I heard your mother-in-law is suing you for fraud. Man, in times like this, the most dangerous people are the ones closest to you. Good luck.”

I said nothing, just stared at the pitch-black office tower.

They all thought I had nothing.

But they forgot that I had spent five years doing compliance inspections at the financial regulator.

In my eyes, every flow of money left a trace.

When I got back to the rental apartment, Mia sent me her final ultimatum.

It was a photo she took at the courthouse entrance.

The caption said: Your last chance. Sign this $8 million debt transfer agreement, and I’ll drop the lawsuit.

Otherwise, tomorrow is the beginning of your total disgrace.

I did not reply. I just blocked her.

That night, I sorted through all the evidence again.

I found a huge loophole.

Margaret had been insisting that the $800,000 was her retirement savings, but the bank records showed that after the money was put into the investment product and before it blew up, she had secretly transferred out a full $500,000 in several installments.

$300,000 went into an account tied to a pyramid scheme that the police had already identified, and another $200,000 was transferred directly to Kyle.

In other words, the so-called “losing everything” actually meant only $300,000 was really exposed to risk, and after the blowup that $300,000 still had $120,000 left.

Her actual loss was only $180,000, yet she wanted me to pay $8 million.

I let out a cold laugh.

So the so-called retirement savings were dirty from the start.

And Mia probably still did not know what her own mother had been doing behind everyone’s backs.

The next day, the courthouse entrance was packed with people.

Besides reporters, the whole Margaret family was there too.

Her uncle and aunt led the chants, demanding that I, this “finance rat,” be brought to justice.

I wore a simple black suit, carried my briefcase, and walked calmly into the defendant’s seat.

Mia sat at the plaintiff’s table, with that shrewd lawyer standing beside her.

Margaret sat in the first row of the hearing section, making faces at me and silently mouthing curses.

The judge struck the gavel.

“Court is now in session.”

The plaintiff’s lawyer attacked first.

He pulled out a pile of fake chat screenshots and even a “principal-guarantee commitment letter” bearing my signature.

“Your Honor, the defendant Ethan used his family ties to repeatedly induce the plaintiff Margaret to invest large sums of money.”

“And knowing the company was about to blow up, he still used deceptive methods, even forging a principal-guarantee promise, which constitutes serious fraud.”

Mia, at the right moment, began to sob softly beside him.

“I never thought he would do this to my mother.”

“That was my mom’s lifetime savings from blood and sweat.”

There was a stir in the gallery, and someone cursed me as a beast.

The judge looked at me.

“Defendant, what is your defense?”

I stood up and straightened my tie.

“Your Honor, every word the plaintiff said is a lie.”

I took out a stack of bound original documents from my bag.

“First, about inducing the investment. This is Ms. Margaret’s activity log on the investment app.”

“We can clearly see that every deposit was made through her own real-name verified phone.”

“And because the amounts were huge, the system triggered five risk warnings.”

“Each warning was clicked as ‘I fully understand the risks and am willing to bear the consequences.’”

“Not only that, I also kept screen recordings of her actions.”

I projected the video onto the big screen.

In the video, Margaret kept tapping the screen while muttering, This is the one that doubles it, right? These words are such a pain. Just hit confirm.

The plaintiff’s lawyer’s face stiffened.

“That only proves she used the app, not that the defendant didn’t induce her!”

I let out a cold laugh.

“Second, about that so-called principal-guarantee commitment letter.”

I held up the original.

“Please compare the signature, Your Honor.”

“The signature on this letter is indeed mine, but it was cut out and composited from an old employment contract of mine.”

“The paper texture is obviously different.”

“Last, and most important.”

I turned and stared at Margaret.

“The plaintiff keeps saying that was $800,000 in retirement savings.”

“Bank records I applied to obtain show that after the money was put into the investment product and before it blew up, she secretly transferred out a full $500,000 in several installments.”

“$300,000 went to a pyramid scheme that had already been officially identified, and another $200,000 was sent directly to your son Kyle.”

“Dare to tell everyone where that $500,000 went? Your so-called ‘losing everything’ was a lie from the start!”