Chapter 5 - THE UNSEEN HAND
While Ryan was panicking in his empty mansion, I was sitting in the high-rise office of Marcus Sterling—Victoria’s brother and one of the top financial forensic investigators in Wall Street history.
Marcus flipped through a stack of bank ledgers, his eyes gleaming with professional satisfaction.
"Your husband is an amateur, Claire," Marcus said, laying out a complex flowchart of shell companies. "He thought by setting up LLCs in Delaware and transferring funds to Panama, he could hide his development assets from the marital estate."
"How much did he move?" I asked calmly.
"Over nine million dollars in the last eighteen months alone," Marcus replied, leaning forward. "He was funneling money out of Bennett Development Corporation right into accounts managed by Vanessa Cole’s brother. It’s not just divorce fraud, Claire. It’s corporate embezzlement and tax evasion."
I took a deep breath. "Will this affect the children’s trusts?"
"Not anymore," Marcus smiled warmly. "Because you gave me those access codes three weeks ago, we legally flagged the accounts under the Fraudulent Transfer Act. The court locked every single one of those funds two hours ago. Right now, Ryan can't even buy a cup of coffee without court permission."
My phone buzzed on the glass table.
Ryan's name flashed across the screen. He had called twelve times in the last twenty minutes.
I hit accept and put it on speakerphone.
"CLAIRE!" Ryan’s voice boomed through the speaker, laced with rage and terror. "Where the hell are my children?! What did you do to my accounts?!"
I kept my voice completely level, completely cold. "Good morning, Ryan. I see you received my message."
"You crazy bitch!" he yelled. "You stole nine million dollars from my business accounts! That's corporate money! I will have you arrested by the end of the day!"
"I didn't steal anything, Ryan," I replied smoothly. "The court placed a freeze on assets suspected of fraudulent transfer. If you have an issue with that, I suggest you speak to my attorney, Victoria Sterling."
There was a long silence on the line. I could hear Ryan's ragged breathing.
"Claire... please," his voice suddenly changed, shifting into the manipulative, soft tone he used whenever he wanted to control me. "Let's talk about this like adults. Bring Ethan and Sophie home. We can work out an arrangement. Vanessa was a mistake. I was just stressed..."
"Save it for the judge, Ryan," I said. "And by the way... check your email."
I hung up the phone before he could respond.
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Three seconds later, Ryan received an automated notification from the board of directors of Bennett Development Corporation. An emergency board meeting had been called for 2:00 PM to discuss allegations of executive embezzlement.
The trap had closed. And Ryan was inside it alone.
