Chapter 7 - CAMILLE’S BETRAYAL
The fall of the Vale family home was swift and merciless.
With federal marshals freezing all personal and corporate assets tied to Richard Vale, the sprawling estate in Virginia Beach was put under a lien.
Inside the half-packed mansion, Camille Vale was frantically throwing designer handbags and jewelry into leather suitcases.
The front door opened, and Richard walked in, released on conditional bail pending his formal arraignment. He looked twenty years older, his coat unbuttoned, his hair uncombed.
"Camille," Richard said, his voice raspy. "Thank God you're here. Call our uncle in Atlanta. Tell him we need to transfer the private trust accounts to his name before the federal prosecutor—"
"I already called him, Dad," Camille said coldly, not stopping her packing. "And he told me not to call again."
Richard stumbled back against the foyer console table—the same table where he had adjusted his silver cuff links four days ago. "What?"
Camille zipped up her suitcase and turned around. Gone was the polished, sweet smile she wore in high society. Her face was hard, calculating, and bitter.
"I filed an affidavit with the federal prosecutor this morning," Camille said, zipping her coat. "I turned over the personal financial records you kept in the safe upstairs. I told them I had no knowledge of your shell companies and that I was merely an unpaid administrative employee."
Richard gasped, his chest heaving. "You... you turned against your own father?"
"You used us, Dad!" Camille shrieked, her voice echoing through the empty, echoing halls. "You used Evelyn’s military money to pay for your lifestyle! You used me as a high-society billboard to catch a Vance heir! And now that the house is gone and the money is gone, you expect me to go down with your sinking ship?"
"I gave you everything!" Richard shouted, his chest heaving. "The clothes, the cars, the galas!"
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"You gave us an image!" Camille spat back. "And just like you told Evelyn—if something doesn't fit the image you expected, you discard it. Well, Dad... you don't fit my image anymore."
She grabbed her suitcases, pushed past her broken father without a second glance, and walked out the door into a waiting taxi, leaving Richard Vale completely alone in the silent, empty house he had sacrificed his integrity to build.
