Chapter 7 - The Paper Trail of Blood Money
By Wednesday afternoon, the fallout had metastasized.
News of the federal freeze on Porter Consulting's corporate accounts hit the front page of the *Denver Business Journal*. The headline was merciless: **FLAGSHIP TECH ADVISORY FIRM HIT WITH SEC ASSET FREEZE AMID EMBEZZLEMENT ALLEGATIONS.**
Marcus had gone dark. His phone went straight to voicemail. His assistant reported that he hadn't returned to his office since the disastrous board meeting.
Meanwhile, Jonah and I were set up in the conference room of my newly hired divorce attorney, Clara Sterling—a razor-sharp woman in her fifties who was legendary in Denver for taking predatory hedge-fund husbands to the cleaners.
"This is poetry," Clara said, flipping through the binder Jonah had retrieved from the safe. "Absolute poetry. Marcus wasn't just hiding assets from you, Nina. He was committing cross-border corporate transfer fraud."
"How much did he move through Bianca's LLC?" I asked.
"Total tally so far? One point four million," Clara said, tapping her fountain pen against an offshore wire ledger. "He bought a luxury ski chalet in Breckenridge three months ago under *Oasis Blue Management*. Guess whose name is on the title?"
"Bianca's," Jonah said, his jaw tightening.
"Both of them," Clara corrected. "As *joint tenants with right of survivorship*. They were planning to flee the jurisdiction if Vance’s audit turned sour."
My blood ran cold. "He was going to run?"
"Marcus has three separate passports in that safe, Nina," Jonah reminded me. "One Canadian, one Irish, and his American. He knew Vance was getting suspicious six months ago. That's why he was hoarding cash."
Clara leaned forward, resting her elbows on the mahogany desk. "Here is our leverage, Nina. Because Marcus used marital assets—specifically, the home equity line of credit you co-signed last summer—to fund the initial capitalization of Oasis Blue, that Breckenridge chalet is classified as marital property subject to fraudulent conveyance."
"What does that mean in plain English?" I asked.
"It means we can seize the chalet before Marcus can liquidate it," Clara said with a grin that looked like a shark smelling chum. "We file an emergency lis pendens on the title today. We freeze the Breckenridge property. And then we hit Bianca Hale with a third-party discovery subpoena that will force her to testify under oath about every dollar Marcus gave her."
Jonah’s phone vibrated against the table. He picked it up, glanced at the screen, and frowned.
"It's the security company for my house," Jonah said, swiping to answer. "Hello?"
He listened for ten seconds, his face hardening into granite.
"Has she breached the interior?" Jonah asked. A pause. "Keep the cameras rolling. I'm ten minutes away."
He hung up and stood, grabbing his coat.
"What happened?" I asked, rising with him.
"Bianca is at my house," Jonah said, his voice flat. "She brought a moving truck and two men. She’s trying to clear out my safe and take Chloe."
"Chloe is at school, isn't she?" I asked, my heart jumping into my throat.
"Yes. Her school has strict orders not to release Chloe to anyone but me," Jonah said, already heading for the door. "But Bianca doesn't know that. She thinks Chloe is home with the nanny."
"I'm coming with you," I said, grabbing my purse.
Clara gave me a sharp look. "Nina, be careful. Narcissists and their accomplices become extremely volatile when their financial exits are blocked."
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"I've spent eleven years being careful, Clara," I said, pulling on my boots. "It's time Marcus and Bianca learned what happens when I stop."
***
