Chapter 4 - The House of Cards Collapses
Liam froze, his mouth falling open as he stared at the officer. "That's impossible. Victoria bought this house! The wire transfer cleared two days ago! She showed me the bank receipts!"
Claire stepped forward, the double stroller clicking softly against the marble floor. She reached into her coat pocket and pulled out the crisp, official parchment deed bearing the gold seal of the city registry. She held it up, letting Liam see the date and the signatures clearly.
"The bank was going to foreclose on this house because of your pathetic financial incompetence, Liam," Claire said, her voice dropping like a heavy iron weight in the room. "Three days ago, I used the entirety of my grandfather's trust fund—an inheritance I kept hidden from your greedy hands—to pay off the mortgage in full. The bank issued the title directly to me. I am the sole owner of this estate."
"No... no, that's a lie!" a sharp voice shrieked from the top of the stairs.
Victoria stood on the landing, wearing a silk nightgown, her face completely devoid of its usual glamorous composure. Her makeup was smudged, and her hands were shaking. "I wired five million dollars to the acquisition account provided by the senior broker! I have the confirmation!"
Arthur Vance stepped forward, adjusting his glasses as he pulled out a secondary legal document. "Miss Chen, the 'senior broker' you spoke with was a dummy corporation set up by a shell company. Your five million dollars didn't go to the bank. It went into a frozen escrow account monitored by the Federal Fraud Bureau. We’ve been tracking your family's illicit financial movements for six months. You didn't buy a mansion, Miss Chen. You fell straight into a legal trap designed to expose your family's money-laundering scheme."
Victoria gasped, clutching the banister as her knees buckled.
"Furthermore," Claire continued, looking up at her husband with an icy glare. "The heirloom ring you used to propose to her last night in my library? The one you stole from my jewelry box and pawned six months ago? I bought it back from the broker last week. You proposed to your mistress using an asset that legally belongs to me."
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Susan dropped to her knees on the marble floor, her expensive silk dress soaking up a puddle of spilled tea from the breakfast tray. "Liam... Liam, do something! Tell them they can't do this! This is our family home!"
"Officers," Claire said, turning away from the pathetic display. "Please escort these trespassers off my property. They have exactly ten minutes to pack one suitcase each. Anything else left in this house will be liquidated to pay for the property damage they caused during their unauthorized stay."
