Chapter 5 - Tearing Down the Facade
Vivian stared at the photos of my battered face, then looked at Daniel, her eyes wide with a mix of horror and calculation. "Daniel... what did you do?"
"She was refusing to give up the property!" Daniel hissed, his facade completely shattering. "I did it for the family, Mother! I did it for the company!"
"Idiot," Vivian whispered, her voice trembling. She immediately turned her gaze to me, her aristocratic arrogance replacing her shock. "Listen to me, Clara. This is a domestic dispute. We can settle this. I will give you two million dollars. You will destroy these photos, tell the police it was an accident, and we will dissolve the marriage quietly. You do not want to cross me."
"Two million?" I laughed, a sharp, humorless sound. "Vivian, you don't understand the situation you're in. Look at the second folder on the table."
Daniel hesitated, but Vivian snatched it up. As she flipped through the pages, the color drained from her face completely. It was the complete map of V&D Enterprises.
"Daniel has been embezzling from Aegis Holdings for three years," I explained calmly, leaning against the back of a chair. "He told you he was hiding money from me. But if you look at page four, he’s actually been routing those funds out of your Delaware account into a private Swiss annuity under his name alone. He’s left a trail of breadcrumbs that points directly to you as the mastermind of a tax evasion scheme worth thirty-two million dollars."
Vivian turned to her son, her face distorted with pure rage. "You... you stole from me? You set me up?"
"Mother, no! She's lying! She’s manipulating the data!" Daniel screamed, lunging across the table toward me.
He never reached me. The boardroom doors burst open, and Detective Lena Ortiz entered with four uniformed officers.
"Daniel Vance, you are under arrest for felony domestic assault, aggravated battery, and corporate fraud," Lena announced, her voice booming.
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Daniel was slammed against the glass windows, his hands pulled behind his back as the handcuffs clicked shut. He glared at me, his eyes filled with venom. "You bitch! You planned this! You’re nothing without us!"
"You forgot one thing, Daniel," I whispered as they dragged him past me. "You mistook my silence for surrender. But a forensic accountant never surrenders. We just calculate."
