Chapter 4: The Liquidation
Within forty-eight hours, the Vale family empire, such as it was, ceased to exist.
Callum didn't use violence. He used the law. He used forensic accounting. He found every under-the-table deal my father had ever made, every tax loophole my mother had exploited, and every piece of fraudulent insurance claim my sister had submitted.
My father’s business was audited into oblivion by the IRS. My mother’s assets were seized due to a tangled web of lawsuits stemming from their “charity” work.
But the most satisfying part was the truck.
Callum’s team showed up at the Merritt residence, not with guns, but with a sheriff’s deputy and the original bill of sale. They reclaimed my truck, and then, as a final insult, they placed a lien on every single piece of furniture in the Merritt showrooms, citing the “gift” of stolen property as evidence of the family’s involvement in a civil conspiracy.
By the end of the week, my sister’s engagement was off. Ryker couldn't afford a wedding, let alone a bride, once his father’s business was tied up in a five-year litigation process.
My mother called. Once.
"Arden, please," she wailed. "We’re going to lose the house. They’re taking everything! Call your husband!"
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"I don't have a husband," I said, my voice cold. "I have a protector. And you shouldn't have smashed a vase into the head of the woman who held the keys to your salvation."
I hung up.
