Chapter 13 - The Poisoned Alliance
The following morning, the financial district was already buzzing with rumors of Edward Vance’s sudden return.
Shares of our newly public company dipped three points in pre-market trading as short-sellers anticipated family warfare.
I dressed in an immaculate charcoal suit, pulling my hair back into a sleek, impenetrable bun.
Caleb walked beside me as we exited the private elevator into the executive suite of our research headquarters.
The staff looked at me with a mixture of reverence and anxiety, sensing the storm brewing on the horizon.
Before I could reach my office, Rachel hurried toward us with a tablet in hand, her expression paler than usual.
She pulled us into a private conference room and locked the frosted glass doors behind her.
Rachel told us that Arthur Sterling had not acted alone when filing Julian’s emergency furlough motion.
The legal fees had been wire-transferred from a shell company registered in Panama under the name of Selena Gomez’s sister.
My jaw tightened as the web of deceit revealed another hidden strand.
Selena, Julian’s former mistress, was currently serving time in a federal women’s facility in upstate New York.
We believed she had been thoroughly stripped of her assets, her jewelry, and her social prestige.
Yet money was still moving in her name, routed through offshore accounts that had escaped the federal asset seizure.
Caleb studied the bank transfer route on the screen, his analytical mind dissecting the transaction pattern.
He realized that the funds had originated from an account Edward Vance had quietly authorized three days ago.
The old patriarch had made peace with his son’s disgraced mistress while his son rotted in a state cell.
Edward was using Selena’s family network to secure Julian’s temporary release on medical grounds.
If Julian were released to a private medical facility under Edward’s control, the narrative of his guilt could be systematically rewritten.
They were preparing a public relations campaign claiming Julian had been poisoned and coerced into the attack that almost killed me.
They planned to paint me as a calculating mastermind who had framed her husband to seize the family fortune.
It was a grotesque, monstrous inversion of the truth, but with enough money and media manipulation, lies could become legal reality.
I felt a wave of nausea rise in my throat, but I swallowed it down and replaced it with iron resolve.
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I ordered Rachel to subpeona the Panamanian financial records immediately through our international trade contacts.
We needed proof of collusion between Edward Vance and Selena before Julian’s emergency bail hearing took place tomorrow morning.
