Chapter 6 - The Secret Life
The criminal investigation blew the doors wide open on my parents' finances, and the truth was far worse than David or I had originally thought.
During the discovery phase, the forensic accountants found the bottom of the rabbit hole. Richard Vance wasn't just a bad investor. He had a severe, hidden gambling addiction.
He had been taking weekend "business trips" to offshore casinos in the Bahamas for five years. He had burned through his own savings, mortgaged their home to the absolute hilt, and when he ran out of his own money, he started draining everything else.
He took Claire's trust fund. He took Leo's life insurance payout. He even took out a reverse mortgage on my grandmother's house, leaving the poor woman completely unaware that the bank could take her home at any minute.
And Eleanor? She knew.
Emails uncovered between them proved she was fully aware of the theft. She just didn't care, as long as he kept filtering enough money into her accounts to maintain her shopping habits and luxury car leases. They were parasites, feeding off their own children to keep up the facade of wealth.
"They are facing ten to fifteen years in federal prison," David told me over coffee one morning. "The feds are involved now because they wired the stolen money across state lines and to offshore accounts."
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"What about the money?" I asked. "Is any of it left for Leo?"
David sighed. "We froze what we could, but a lot of it is gone. However, we're going to liquidate every single asset they have left. The cars, the jewelry, the house. We will squeeze blood from this stone to make your son whole."
