Chapter 7 - The Ruined BusinessBy Wednesday afternoon, the walls were completely closing in on Daniel.
He was sitting in the office of Vance Consulting, but the building was virtually dead. The internet had been disconnected due to a sudden "corporate contract suspension" by the provider—which happened to be a subsidiary of Sterling Utilities. His two junior associates had walked out after their corporate credit cards were declined at a client lunch.
The door to his private office burst open. Vanessa stood there, her hair unkempt, holding a pile of pink slips.
"Daniel! The bank just repossessed my car! Right out of the motel parking lot!" she screamed, her voice cracking with hysteria. "They said the lease was tied to your corporate account, and the account has been closed for liquidation! What did you do to us?!"
"I didn't do anything! Claire is ruining me!" Daniel yelled back, throwing a glass paperweight against the wall, shattering it into fragments. "She’s freezing everything! She’s acting like a monster!"
"Then go to the police!" Vanessa wept. "Tell them she’s stealing your money!"
"I can't go to the police, you idiot!" Daniel slammed his fists on the desk.
"Every dollar we used for your studio, every payment for my country club membership—it came from an administrative account I wasn't supposed to touch without her dual signature. I forged the digital authorization codes using her old design laptop before I smashed it last year. If the police look into the accounts, I’m not just broke—I’m going to prison."
From the corner of the room, a low, electronic chime sounded.
Daniel froze. He looked at his desk phone. The small digital screen, which had been blank since the service disconnection, suddenly lit up with an incoming call from an unlisted number.
May you like
He lunged for the receiver. "Claire? Claire, listen to me—"
"It's not Claire, Daniel," a deep, gravelly voice answered. It was Arthur Vance, Daniel’s estranged uncle, the man who had lent him the seed money to start Vance Consulting five years ago. "I just received a federal subpoena from a forensic team looking into your corporate tax returns. What the hell did you do, boy?"
