Chapter 5 - The Cornered Rat
With Julian stripped of his company and his assets frozen, the walls began closing in rapidly. The media circus was absolute. Every news outlet in the country was running the story of the "Vance Monster" and the secret billionaire heiress who took him down.
Inside a cheap, cash-only motel on the outskirts of Queens, Julian was spiraling.
He had a burner phone pressed to his ear, frantically calling anyone who might help him.
“Marcus, listen to me, I need the offshore router numbers,” Julian begged, pacing the stained carpet.
“I can’t help you, Julian,” his former CFO whispered over the line. “The Feds seized my laptops. They offered me a plea deal to testify against you on the embezzlement charges. I took it. Do not call this number again.”
The line went dead.
Julian threw the phone against the wall, shattering it into pieces. He collapsed onto the sagging mattress, burying his face in his hands.
There was a knock on the door.
Julian froze. He grabbed a heavy brass lamp from the bedside table and crept toward the door. He peered through the peephole.
It was Beatrice.
He threw the door open. His mother looked unrecognizable. Her signature blowout was a frizzy mess, she wore dark sunglasses, and a trench coat pulled tightly around her.
“How did you find me?” Julian demanded, pulling her inside and locking the deadbolt.
“I paid your bail bondsman for the tracker location,” Beatrice hissed, pulling off her sunglasses. Her eyes were red-rimmed and panicked. “Julian, it’s over. Dr. Evans was arrested an hour ago. He folded. He gave the FBI the original forged psychiatric evaluations. He told them everything about the plan to take the baby.”
Julian backed away, his chest heaving. “No. No, I can fix this. We just need cash. We need to get to the private airstrip in Teterboro. If we can get to Monaco—”
“There is no ‘we’!” Beatrice snapped, her maternal facade completely dissolving into pure survival instinct. “My accounts are locked! My social circle has blacklisted me! I am facing twenty years in federal prison because of your sloppy obsession with controlling that girl!”
“My obsession?!” Julian roared. “You were the one who found the doctor! You signed the custody transfer forms!”
“And I am going to tell the FBI you coerced me,” Beatrice said coldly.
Julian stared at his mother, the ultimate betrayal hitting him like a physical blow. The woman who had taught him how to manipulate the world was now turning her poison on him.
May you like
“You wouldn’t,” he whispered.
“Watch me,” Beatrice sneered. She turned to leave, but before her hand touched the doorknob, the sound of police sirens began wailing in the distance, growing rapidly closer.
