His passing in Korea left a hollow void in my soul, but Thana didn't allow me even a moment of peaceful mourning. He immediately moved his next pawn: my mother.
"Mother, I'm worried. Patty hasn't been herself lately. I fear her 'distractions' in Korea are affecting her judgment... and could jeopardize the clinic's reputation, not to mention the insurance payout you're expecting."
Thana spoke with practiced concern, sliding a thick folder onto the dining table. It was filled with 'fabricated' evidence, designed to convince my mother that I was squandering family assets on a lover in Seoul. My mother didn't bother verifying the truth. Blinded by the numbers Thana fed her, she swung her hand, delivering a stinging slap across my face in front of my three children.
"You ungrateful brat! Your husband treats you like a queen, yet you crawl into the dirt? Why couldn't you have died instead of your father!"
The impact of her hand stung, but her curse pierced deeper. I saw my sixteen-year-old daughter clench her fists, trembling with a suppressed rage. She wanted to scream the truth—to tell her grandmother who the real monster was. But Thana's gaze caught hers... a predatory look that threatened her very future. My brave girl was forced to lower her head, swallowing the truth with her tears.
Thana smirked, stepping forward to 'comfort' me in front of our relatives. "It's alright, Mother. I can always find it in my heart to forgive Patty... because I love this family."
It was the most revolting sentence I had ever heard.
But what Thana didn't know was that while he was busy reveling with his mistresses and poisoning my mother's mind, I wasn't just sobbing in the shadows. Using the technical skills I'd honed through my years of international business and clinic management, I had covertly accessed his digital footprint.
In the depths of his encrypted files, I found more than just mistress photos. I discovered a trail of 'filthy' finances—money laundered from the clinic to sustain his secret life, and evidence of illegal, off-the-books surgeries he performed to evade taxes and regulations.
I looked at the photograph of my surgeon in Seoul tucked inside my wallet. His love was the last ember of strength I had left.
"Thana... you may have bought my mother's loyalty and shackled my daughter with fear, but you forgot one thing. Beneath your flawless skin, you are rotting. And I, Patty, will be the one to perform the final surgery—the one that exposes your filth to the entire world."