Chapter 5 - The Federal Sweep
"Federal Securities and Oversight Commission!" the lead agent announced, her voice echoing off the vaulted ceilings with crystal-clear authority. "Nobody leaves the premises. All exits are secured under federal warrant document number SE-8842-B."
Gasps erupted from the clusters of wealthy socialites and high-profile investors who had gathered near the ballroom entrance. Women clutched their pearls; men loosened their silk ties as the realization set in that this was not a theatrical prank or a family dispute—it was a full-scale corporate raid.
Richard Holloway staggered forward, his hands raised defensively. "There must be some mistake! We have legal counsel! You can't just barge into a private wedding—"
"Mr. Holloway," the lead agent interrupted, stepping past him without breaking stride and walking directly toward me. She stopped, snapped to attention, and gave a crisp, formal nod. "Director Vance. We’ve secured the primary servers at the Holloway corporate headquarters. The off-shore transfer logs match the hashes in your folder."
Director Vance.
The title hung in the air like a physical weight.
Chloe let out a choked gasp from her spot on the floor, her hands pressed tightly over her mouth. My mother looked like she was about to faint, her eyes darting between the federal agents, Arthur Sterling, and me as if she had suddenly woken up in a bizarre, incomprehensible nightmare.
"Thank you, Agent Miller," I said, my voice calm and authoritative. I handed the black leather folder over to her. "Every transaction record, shell company registry, and beneficial ownership document is cataloged inside. You can begin freezing the corporate accounts immediately."
"Right away, Director," Agent Miller replied, signaling two agents to flank Richard Holloway.
Before the agents could touch him, Richard spun around in a blind panic, his eyes frantically searching the crowd for his son. "Martin! Where is Martin? Call our legal team! Call the senior partners!"
"Your son is currently locked in his private dressing room on the third floor," Agent Miller said coldly, clicking a pair of heavy steel handcuffs onto the table next to her clipboard. "His personal accounts were used to funnel the embezzlement funds through dummy freelance contracts. Coincidentally, under the very same digital signatures Director Vance monitored for the past eight years."
The room went dead silent. Every head slowly turned back toward me.
For eight years, they had mocked the 'freelance gig work' I claimed to do. They thought I sat in a cramped apartment doing low-end data entry for pennies. They had no idea that the 'gig platform' I was supposedly wasting my life on was actually the honey-pot server architecture I had personally designed to track every single digital footprint the Holloway family tried to hide.
Arthur Sterling let out a long, heavy sigh, defeat settling deep into his bones. He walked over slowly and stopped a few feet away, lowering his head in a gesture of profound respect.
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"You played us all, Director Vance," Arthur murmured quietly, his voice filled with bitter realization. "We thought you were an easy target. A harmless nobody on the fringe of high society. We never suspected that the federal oversight board had planted their top forensic investigator right under our noses."
"Greed makes people blind, Arthur," I replied evenly. "You were so busy looking down at everyone else that you never bothered to look up."
