Chapter 7 - The Counter-Strike
I drove straight to downtown Seattle, my knuckles white on the steering wheel, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped animal. I needed legal firepower—not Evan Vance, who was currently compromised by corporate cowardice, but a shark.
Victoria Sterling.
She was a ruthless corporate litigator known across the Pacific Northwest for dismantling hostile takeovers and white-collar fraud rings. Five years ago, I had referred a major retail client to her firm during a trademark dispute, and she had won the case in a week.
I parked the Subaru illegally in a red zone outside her high-rise office building on 5th Avenue, ran inside with my torn shirt and wild hair, and practically vaulted past the receptionist’s desk.
“I need to see Victoria Sterling right now,” I panted, slamming my phone down on the marble counter. “Tell her Erin Sinclair is here. It’s an emergency corporate asset theft and domestic kidnapping attempt.”
The receptionist looked at my disheveled appearance, took one look at the wild, desperate fire in my eyes, and instantly picked up her desk phone.
Two minutes later, Victoria Sterling herself stepped out of her corner office, dressed in a sharp charcoal pantsuit, her silver-streaked hair pulled back into a flawless chignon. She took one look at me, raised an eyebrow, and stepped aside.
“Erin. Come in. Now.”
Twenty minutes later, I sat across from her gleaming glass desk, sipping a cup of black coffee while laying out the entire nightmare: the forged digital signature, the private equity buyout through Apex Global Holdings, the fake medical affidavit, and the attempted psychiatric hold orchestrated by Ryan and Marlene.
Victoria listened in absolute silence, her dark eyes never leaving my face as she flicked through the server diagnostic logs and metadata I had transferred from the iPad.
When I finished, she leaned back in her leather chair, a slow, predatory smile spreading across her lips.
“Well,” Victoria said quietly, tapping a silver pen against her desk. “Your husband is an absolute idiot. Not only did he commit corporate forgery and wire fraud across state lines by looping in a federal equity firm, but he used a personal IP address registered to his own phone to execute the digital notary seal.”
She turned her monitor around to show me a highlighted trace route.
“Look at this timestamp and device ID, Erin. The digital notary seal wasn't just forged from your home network—it was signed using Ryan’s personal iPhone MAC address. He didn't even bother to use a VPN.”
A cold, vindictive wave of satisfaction washed over me. “Can we stop the sale to Apex Global?”
“Stop it?” Victoria’s smile widened. “We’re going to blow it out of the water. Apex Global has strict anti-corruption and clean-title clauses in their acquisition agreements. If they find out the primary founder’s signature was forged by the sitting CEO to cover up personal gambling debts, they’ll pull out instantly and refer the case to the federal prosecutor’s office to protect themselves from liability.”
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“What about my kids?” My voice cracked, the adrenaline finally giving way to raw maternal terror. “Ryan and his mother have Paige and Owen locked in that house.”
Victoria’s expression hardened into steel. She picked up her landline. “We aren't going to call the local police precinct—your husband has a cousin on the local county board who could tip him off. We’re going straight to the state police cyber-fraud division and Child Protective Services with an emergency writ of habeas corpus and protective custody order.”
