Chapter 7 - CHAPTER 6: THE RAT IN THE SYSTEM
The news of the frozen accounts and the scandal at Vance Enterprises leaked to the financial press within forty-eight hours.
Stock prices for the firm plummeted by thirty percent. The board of directors, terrified of being tied to a high-profile fraud and embezzlement lawsuit, held an emergency meeting and voted to suspend both Victor and Damon from their executive roles pending a full forensic audit.
Meanwhile, I moved into a sunlit apartment near the botanical gardens, turning the spare room into a nursery painted in soft green and warm cream tones.
My focus shifted entirely to protecting my father's legacy and preparing for my daughter's arrival.
One evening, while reviewing financial statements with Victoria over tea, we noticed a strange anomaly in the logistics files my father had left behind.
"Look at this entry, Evelyn," Victoria said, pointing her pen at a series of transactions dated six months before my father passed away. "Your father didn't just leave you stock shares. He created a secondary, independent oversight trust that activates automatically if Vance Enterprises experiences a change of corporate leadership due to ethical violations."
I leaned closer to read the fine print. "My father knew."
"Your father was a brilliant businessman," Victoria said with deep respect. "He saw that Victor Vance was playing crooked games with company funds years ago. He set up this clause specifically so that if the Vance brothers ever tried to push you out, the entire logistics network—the backbone of their development company—reverts 100% to your personal ownership."
My eyes filled with tears. My father hadn't just left me money; he had built a shield around me from beyond the grave, waiting for the day I would need to defend myself.
Suddenly, Victoria’s phone rang. It was her lead investigator.
"Victoria," the investigator's voice came over the speaker. "Owen Miller just cracked. Faced with federal tax fraud charges, he’s turning state's evidence against Victor and Damon. He handed over three years of encrypted emails detailing the entire plan to isolate Evelyn and fake her psychological records."
"Does it mention Claire?" I asked.
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"Claire was listed as a paid consultant on two shell accounts," the investigator revealed. "Damon was funneling company money directly to her to keep her quiet about the affair while using her to monitor your schedule."
The depth of their calculations was stunning, but now every single thread of their web was unraveling in real time.
