Chapter 5 - The Judas in the Boardroom
The next morning, Julian arrived at the towering glass skyscraper of Vance Enterprises with a clear, lethal purpose.
He bypassed his massive corner office entirely and walked straight into the highly secure server room on the top floor.
He ordered his elite cybersecurity team to completely lock down the building's network and begin a massive, unannounced audit.
“I want every single financial transaction from the past four years traced back to its absolute origin,” Julian commanded the head of IT.
“Pay special attention to any offshore transfers connected to the blind trust that held my wife's assets.”
For three grueling days, Julian practically lived in the server room, surviving on black coffee and sheer, burning adrenaline.
He watched as his team slowly peeled back the complex layers of digital shell companies and heavily encrypted accounts.
On the afternoon of the fourth day, the lead analyst finally found the hidden digital thread they had been searching for.
“Mr. Vance, we found a highly encrypted backdoor access point that authorized the final transfer of your wife's funds,” the analyst reported.
Julian stepped forward, staring intensely at the glowing computer monitors.
“Who owns the IP address that authorized the transfer?” Julian asked, his voice dangerously low.
The analyst typed furiously for a few seconds before the final name flashed across the large screen in bright red letters.
It was Marcus Thorne.
Julian felt the air rush completely out of his lungs.
Marcus was the Chief Financial Officer of Vance Enterprises, his college roommate, and the man who had been his best man at his wedding to Clara.
Marcus was the man who had stood beside Julian in the pouring rain, holding an umbrella over him while Julian desperately handed out missing person flyers.
The betrayal was so profound and incredibly deep that it physically made Julian sick to his stomach.
Marcus had helped Victoria kidnap his wife, steal her money, and then comforted Julian through his darkest hours of grief.
Julian did not scream, and he did not smash anything in the secure room.
Instead, a chilling, terrifying calm settled completely over him.
He was not just going to fire Marcus Thorne or hand him quietly over to the police.
He was going to completely publicly destroy the man, piece by piece, in front of the entire world.
Julian pulled out his phone and dialed his executive assistant.
“Cancel all my meetings for the week,” Julian ordered smoothly.
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“And organize an emergency, mandatory gala for the board of directors and the major shareholders this Friday night at the estate.”
The trap was officially set, and the rat was about to walk blindly right into it.
