Chapter 4 - The Web of Stolen Fortunes
An hour later, I was sitting in the corner armchair of the hospital room with my laptop balanced on my knees while Maya rested and Frederick slept peacefully in his crib. Across from me sat Vance Holloway, our family’s lead corporate attorney, who had arrived with a briefcase full of forensic audit reports.
Vance was a sharp, razor-tongued litigator in his late fifties who had served my father before me. If anyone knew where Teresa’s skeletons were buried, it was Vance.
"Connor, take a look at these wire transfers from the last eighteen months," Vance said in a hushed, intense murmur, handing me a thick ledger of bank statements. "When your father set up the Bradley Family Heritage Trust before he passed, he appointed you as the primary beneficiary upon your thirtieth birthday, with Teresa serving merely as an interim trustee with strictly limited discretionary spending."
I scanned the columns of numbers, my blood boiling with every line item. Hundreds of thousands of dollars had been funneled through shell LLCs with names like 'Bellerose Holdings' and 'Verdant Consulting.'
"Over two point four million dollars," Vance explained grimly. "She wasn't just using your trust to fund her extravagant charity galas and five-figure designer wardrobes. She was transferring liquidity directly to an offshore account registered in the Cayman Islands under her maiden name."
"Embezzlement," I said, my teeth clenched so tight my jaw ached. "She was robbing my future, robbing Freddie's inheritance, while standing in my home acting like a saintly benefactress."
"Worse than that," Vance added, tapping a notarized document. "To authorize these large transfers without your co-signature, she submitted forged medical certifications stating that you were frequently incapacitated by international business travel and had granted her temporary power of attorney. That is grand larceny, wire fraud, and falsification of legal affidavits."
"Can we freeze it today?"
"The freeze went through twenty minutes ago," Vance smiled, cold and sharp as a scalpel. "Judge Morales signed off on the ex parte emergency injunction based on the preliminary audit and the criminal police report from last night. Right now, Teresa's black Amex is declined. Her country club account is suspended. Her personal checking accounts at JP Morgan have a zeroed spending limit. If she tries to buy a cup of artisan coffee right now, the machine will spit her card back out."
A cold sense of satisfaction washed over me. For years, Teresa had treated wealth as her personal cudgel, degrading service staff, belittling Maya's modest working-class background, and demanding absolute subservience from everyone around her. She believed her money made her untouchable.
Now, her supply was cut off entirely.
"What about the police report regarding Frederick?" I asked, looking over at the crib where my son slept peacefully.
"Detective Lawson from Child Protective Services and the Special Victims Unit is already reviewing the footage from your home security cameras," Vance replied. "They have the time-stamped video showing Maya begging Teresa to let her call the pediatrician, and Teresa physically grabbing Maya's phone, throwing it into the sink, and locking Maya in the back pantry while guests arrived. Connor... that alone satisfies the statutory threshold for felony unlawful imprisonment and reckless child endangerment."
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"I want the book thrown at her, Vance. No plea bargains. No quiet settlements to preserve the family name. The Bradley name means my wife and my son. Teresa is an outlaw."
Vance nodded with a stern respect in his eyes. "Understood. The hearing for the permanent restraining order is scheduled for tomorrow morning at nine. But Connor... brace yourself. A wounded viper is most dangerous when trapped in a corner."
