Chapter 4 - War in the Shadows
The call disconnected with a sharp tone, leaving the hospital room in thick, heavy silence.
I turned my head slowly to look at my father. "Dad... what is he talking about? My medical trust? I never signed anything pledging corporate assets!"
Arthur didn't panic. He remained sitting upright, his hands clasped together over his knee, his eyes fixed on the dark phone screen.
"When you were brought into St. Catherine twelve hours ago," Arthur said, analyzing the situation out loud, "Daniel had legal medical power of attorney over you as your husband. He utilized that power to execute an emergency financial guarantee under the guise of paying for high-risk maternal medical care. He forged your digital authorization."
"Can he do that?!" I asked, anger flaring in my chest again. "That's illegal!"
"It is illegal," Arthur agreed coldly. "But in the financial world, legality is a matter of time and legal fees. Victor Vance doesn't intend to keep those assets permanently. He intends to freeze Hale Meridian's liquidity for forty-eight hours. Just long enough to trigger a default clause in our international shipping contracts with the European Union."
"If we default on the EU contracts..." I whispered, the realization hitting me like a physical strike. "The penalties will force Hale Meridian into liquidation. He'll buy our military patents for pennies on the dollar at a bankruptcy auction!"
"Precisely," Arthur said, a dangerous glint returning to his eyes. "Victor Vance has been trying to swallow Hale Meridian for fifteen years. He used Daniel's greed and Vanessa's vanity to open a door into our house. But Victor made one fatal error."
"What error?"
"He assumed I came back from Europe alone," Arthur smiled faintly.
He tapped his watch. Ten seconds later, the suite door opened again. A woman in a sharp navy-blue pantsuit, her dark hair pulled into a tight ponytail, walked in carrying a leather briefcase. Behind her was a young man wearing glasses, typing furiously on a high-powered laptop resting on his arm.
"Claire," Arthur said, "this is Evelyn Reed, former head of corporate prosecution for the Department of Justice, now managing partner of Hale Global Legal. And that is Julian, our chief forensic financial analyst."
"Pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Meridian—or should I say, Ms. Hale," Evelyn said, walking over and shaking my hand firmly. "We don't have much time. The court closes in four hours, and we need to file an emergency injunction to stay Victor Vance's asset freeze."
"Can we prove Daniel's medical power of attorney was fraudulent?" I asked, sitting up higher despite the ache in my lower back.
"We can do better than that," Julian said, looking up from his laptop. "I just intercepted the internal logs from St. Catherine's administrative server. The digital signature on the medical trust document wasn't signed by Daniel at twelve hours ago."
"When was it signed?" Arthur asked sharply.
"It was signed three hours ago," Julian replied, showing us the screen. "From an IP address located inside this very hospital... specifically, from the device belonging to Vanessa Cole while she was standing in this room waving that belt."
A fierce, cold thrill ran through my veins. "They got greedy," I said. "They didn't do it before I got here. They tried to force me to sign the property agreement first, and when I refused, Vanessa executed the forged medical trust document on her phone right in front of me!"
"Which means," Evelyn added with a sharp, victorious smile, "it is a fresh, ongoing criminal act committed under active duress and assault. The security cameras in the hallway show Vanessa entering the room with that briefcase. Dr. Patel's medical logs will prove you were under heavy monitoring and incapability at that exact timestamp."
"So Victor Vance's legal claim is built on a forged document executed during a physical assault," Arthur said, standing up. "Evelyn, draft the emergency petition for the Federal District Court in Nashville. I want a temporary restraining order on Victor Vance's firm within two hours."
"On it," Evelyn said, opening her briefcase and pulling out encrypted satellite tablets.
"And what about Daniel?" I asked, looking at my father. "He's sitting in a police precinct right now. He'll call Victor Vance for help."
"Let him call," Arthur said, his voice dropping to an icy tone. "In fact, I want him to call Victor. Because Daniel thinks Victor is his savior. He doesn't realize that in Victor's eyes, Daniel is just a loose end that needs to be erased."
Arthur looked at me, his eyes full of fierce determination. "Claire, you need to rest. Let the doctors take care of you and the baby. The war moves to the courtroom and the stock exchange now. And I promise you, by tomorrow morning, Victor Vance will realize he picked a fight with the wrong family."
As if on cue, my phone on the bedside table began to ring.
It was an unknown number from the Nashville Metropolitan Detention Center.
Daniel was calling.
I looked at my father, then at the phone. I reached out and hit accept, placing it on speaker.
"Claire! Claire, please!" Daniel's voice was frantic, breathless, echoing against the hard walls of a jail cell. "You have to help me! They put me in a cell with three men! Vanessa is losing her mind in the holding pen! You have to tell the police it was a domestic argument! If I stay here overnight, Victor Vance is going to—"
"Going to what, Daniel?" I interrupted, my voice as cold as steel.
"He's going to ruin me!" Daniel cried out. "He promised me if I got the shares today, he'd give me twenty percent of the new defense holding company! But now his lawyers aren't answering my calls! Claire, please, I'm your husband! Think of our baby girl!"
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"Don't you ever speak about my daughter again," I snapped, my tone cutting through his panic like a knife. "You brought your mistress into my hospital room with a belt while I was in labor, Daniel. You traded my life and my child's life for twenty percent of a lie. Enjoy your night in jail. Because tomorrow, the real nightmare begins."
I hung up the phone before he could reply.
