Chapter 5 - The Digital Vault
By 4:00 AM, my penthouse in the Gold Coast had become a war room. The marble dining table was buried under hard drives, financial ledgers, and duplicate police reports. Sitting across from me was Arthur Sterling, my father’s lifelong attorney, and Sarah Chen, the most ruthless forensic accountant in the Midwest.
"It’s worse than we thought, Victoria," Sarah said, tapping her tablet to cast a financial flow chart onto the wall-mounted screen. "Over the past twenty-four months, Thomas has siphoned approximately forty-three million dollars out of Vance Logistics and the Vance Family Charitable Trust."
"Where did the money go?" I asked, sipping black coffee.
"Dummy corporations in Panama and Cyprus," Sarah explained, zooming in on a series of wire transfers. "And the beneficiary on every single shell account? Chloe Davenport. He was liquidating your assets to fund an untouchable life for the two of them abroad. But here is the smoking gun: two weeks ago, Thomas took out an additional thirty-five-million-dollar accidental death policy on your life through an offshore maritime underwriter. The primary clause: death by sudden illness or unforeseen physical failure while traveling or attending corporate functions."
Arthur Sterling removed his spectacles, shaking his head in disgust. "The malice aforethought is staggering. He set you up to die tonight, Victoria. If Chloe had succeeded, he would have grieved for a week, resigned as CEO, collected the insurance payouts, and absconded with Davenport before the annual audit."
"And what happens to the voting control of the company if Thomas is arrested?" I asked.
"According to your father’s original corporate bylaws," Arthur said, sliding a leather-bound contract toward me, "any executive officer indicted on a felony charge involving moral turpitude or breach of fiduciary duty has their voting shares immediately frozen and transferred back to the majority family stakeholder. That means you, Victoria. You regain seventy-two percent control the moment charges are formally filed."
"Then we don't wait for the police to take their sweet time," I declared, slamming my coffee cup down. "We force their hand. Marcus, did you get the footage from the hotel ballroom?"
Marcus stepped forward with a flash drive. "The hotel's private security cameras caught everything in four-K. You can clearly see Chloe taking the pouch from her clutch, dropping the capsule into your flute, watching it dissolve, and handing it to you. And more importantly, five minutes prior, the camera in the VIP hallway captured Thomas handing her that exact same velvet pouch with a nod."
I stared at the screen as the video looped: Thomas pressing the poison into Chloe’s hand, kissing her cheek, and sending her out like an assassin in a designer dress.
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"Pack it up," I told Arthur. "We're going to see the Cook County State's Attorney at sunrise. But first, I have a private appointment with the patient."
***
