Chapter 3 - The Audit of the EmpireAt 8:00 AM the morning after the gala, Vincent sat inside his executive office on the sixtieth floor of Moretti Logistics Towers in downtown Chicago.
He hadn't slept. His eyes were bloodshot, his tie undone, three empty crystal glasses sitting on his mahogany desk.
Sophia stood near the floor-to-ceiling windows, pacing back and forth in her silk robe, her face contorted in a mask of manic, nervous rage.
"Vincent! You need to pull yourself together!" Sophia shouted, slamming her hand onto his desk. "She’s lying! She forged the DNA! She wants to take your company! You need to have your men handle her—"
BOOM!
The heavy double oak doors of the executive office were thrown open with a sharp, echoing thud.
Stepping into the office, flanked by four broad-shouldered private security operators in tailored dark suits, was my lead corporate litigation attorney: Bridget Colton.
Behind her walked two Senior Special Agents from the IRS Criminal Investigation Division and Lead Prosecutor Rachel Hayes from the United States Attorney’s Office.
Vincent jumped out of his chair, his hands shaking as he gripped his desk. "What is the meaning of this?!"
Bridget Colton didn't flinch. She walked straight up to his desk and tossed a thick leather binder bound by bright red judicial seals flat onto the wood.
"Vincent Moretti," Bridget announced, her voice booming clearly through the room. "You have been officially served with a Master Subpoena for Corporate Wire Fraud, Emergency Asset Seizure, and a Petition for Immediate Judicial Audit."
Sophia gasped, stepping back. "Subpoena?! On what grounds?!"
"On the grounds that three years ago," Bridget explained cleanly, turning a digital tablet flat toward Vincent's face, "you utilized three hundred million dollars from the Bennett Family Heritage Trust to finance your secondary maritime expansion—funds that legally belonged solely to Anna Bennett."
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Vincent’s blood drained from his face. "Anna's trust...? I... I thought she was dead! The trust was supposed to merge into my estate after three years!"
"She isn't dead, Mr. Moretti," Bridget revealed with a razor-sharp, freezing smile. "And at six o'clock this morning, Mrs. Anna Bennett executed a complete, unappealable 100% Equity Recall of all parent corporate entities."
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