Chapter 4 - The Audit on the TableVictoria Hail didn't touch the ledgers. Her cold blue eyes narrowed into sharp, dangerous slits as she looked up at me. "What is this nonsense, Garrett?"
"These are the unredacted forensic audit logs from the Hail Private Trust, Mother," I revealed, every word dropped into the silent ballroom like a heavy block of cold iron. "The logs documenting the three hundred thousand dollars you paid to private investigators three years ago to forge medical records and blackmail Mave Whitlock out of New York."
A collective, horrified gasp swept through the five hundred high-society guests and board members.
Victoria’s posture stiffened slightly, a subtle, sweating tension appearing around her eyes, though she maintained her icy composure. "Mave Whitlock was a penniless opportunistic girl who did not belong in this family. I protected our legacy."
"You didn't protect our legacy, Victoria," I corrected softly, dropping the formal title of 'Mother' forever. "You committed high corporate fraud, illegal extortion, and witness tampering."
I opened the second leather ledger, turning it flat toward the executive board members sitting at the secondary table.
"And while you were busy trying to steal my daughter, Posie, from her mother in Boston," I continued, "you failed to realize that your younger son, Julian, has been using your private trust accounts to siphon eighty million dollars into an offshore shell firm in Grand Cayman."
Julian’s face went paper-white.
He dropped his scotch glass. The crystal shattered into a hundred glittering pieces against the floorboards.
"WHAT?!" Julian stammered, jumping out of his chair, his hands trembling violently. "THAT'S A LIE! HE'S MAKING IT UP!"
"The wire transfer receipts bear your digital signature, Julian," I stated deadpan. "Executed three weeks ago while you were managing the secondary dock leases in Brooklyn."
Victoria turned her head slowly, looking at her younger son with a dark, horrified shock as she realized her own favored child had been robbing her blind while she focused her malice on Mave.
"As of twelve o'clock today," I declared, looking around at the board members, "I have executed my primary inheritance clause under my late father's trust. I hold fifty-five percent of the total voting equity in Hail Global. Victoria Hail and Julian Hail are permanently removed from the board of directors."
Special Agent Miller from the FBI Financial Crimes Division, flanked by four federal marshals, stepped through the side double doors of the ballroom.
CLICK. CLICK.
May you like
Heavy steel handcuffs locked around Julian Hail’s wrists as he thrashed frantically, screaming curses, dragged away through the high brass doors in total, public disgrace.
Victoria Hail sat frozen in her chair, her diamonds sparkling under the chandeliers, her eyes wide with total, ruinous defeat as her empire, her family, and her pride dissolved into ashes before her eyes.
Related Stories
