Chapter 5 - The House of Cards
Eleanor Vance stood up, her face ashen. She looked from the screen to her son. "Julian... tell me this is a prank. Tell me this is one of her vindictive lies."
Julian was hyperventilating, clawing at his collar. "Mom, it’s a forgery! She’s crazy!"
The screen clicked to the next slide.
It wasn't a medical file this time. It was a ledger. A series of bank transfers.
"While we're discussing things Julian hid to protect his ego," I announced, pacing slowly toward the front of the room, "let's talk about the Vance family trust."
The murmurs in the room escalated into an uproar. Several board members of Vance Enterprises, who were seated near the front, suddenly stood up, squinting at the screen.
"Over the past three years," I explained, my voice steady and unyielding, "Julian has been quietly siphoning millions from the family’s corporate accounts into shell companies in the Caymans to cover massive losses in his personal crypto investments. He’s bankrupt, Eleanor. The Vance empire is running on fumes and fraudulent accounting."
"This is defamation!" Julian roared, lunging off the stage toward me.
Before he could take three steps, Sebastian was there. He moved with terrifying speed, stepping between me and Julian. Sebastian didn't raise his hands. He just stared Julian down with the cold, dead eyes of an apex predator.
"Take one more step toward my wife," Sebastian said, his voice dropping to a lethal, icy register, "and I will buy your entire company by Monday morning just to liquidate it and sell the scraps. Sit down."
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Julian froze, trembling violently. He was a coward, and cowards always recognize true power. He shrank back.
A heavy, suffocating silence fell over the room as the wealthy investors and family friends pulled out their phones, frantically texting their brokers and lawyers. The wedding had turned into a crime scene.
