Chapter 5 - The Corporate Vultures
“Precisely,” Arthur said, leaning back in his leather chair and crossing his arms. “Beatrice was banking on your pride. She figured if she publicly degraded you in front of the town’s wealthiest elite, you would pack your bags, surrender your legal counsel out of shame, and disappear back into obscurity.”
“She underestimated Lily,” Evelyn said softly, looking down at her sleeping daughter, brushing a stray lock of blonde hair from her forehead. “She thought it was just a bratty tantrum.”
“Lily inherited more than just her father’s eyes,” Arthur smiled proudly. “She inherited his situational awareness. Thomas always possessed a strange, almost supernatural instinct for physical danger. He could spot a structural flaw in an engine or a rigged mechanism seconds before it gave way.”
Before Evelyn could reply, the heavy mahogany door of the boardroom burst open.
Marcus the waiter stood in the doorway, panting heavily, holding a shattered tablet in his hand.
“Mr. Vance! You need to see this right now!” Marcus blurted out, stepping into the room without waiting for permission. “Mrs. Sterling didn’t just sabotage the display knife. I was cleaning out her private locker in the staff lounge while security was escorting her out, and I found her personal notebook.”
Arthur stood up immediately. “What kind of notebook?”
“Financial ledgers,” Marcus said, handing the tablet and a water-damaged notebook to Arthur. “Entries dating back six months. She wasn’t just collecting insurance payouts on ruined charity displays. She’s been systematically embezzling from the Lily Vance Trust account through a shell company registered in the Cayman Islands!”
Arthur flipped through the pages, his face turning a dark, dangerous shade of crimson.
“The embezzlement totals over four million dollars,” Arthur growled, slamming the notebook down on the table. “And she used federal wire fraud to route the funds through accounts tied to the country club’s maintenance budget.”
Evelyn stood up, gently transferring Lily to the plush sofa in the corner of the room, where the little girl curled up with a velvet cushion. Evelyn turned back to the two men, her clearance-rack dress suddenly feeling like heavy armor.
“She thought we were trash,” Evelyn said, her voice steady and lethal. “She thought she could crush us under her heel.”
Arthur looked at her, seeing the fierce, unyielding fire in her amber eyes for the very first time. He recognized that look. It was the exact same expression Thomas had worn the day he walked away from the family empire.
“What do you want to do, Evelyn?” Arthur asked quietly. “As primary trustee guardian, you have the legal authority to sign off on immediate criminal asset seizure.”
Evelyn walked over to the mahogany desk, picked up a gold-plated fountain pen, and looked down at the documents spread across the wood.
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“I want to audit every single asset Beatrice Sterling owns,” Evelyn said coldly. “Then I want to take her home, her country club shares, and her freedom.”
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