Chapter 10 - The Unseen Ledger
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I plugged the silver thumb drive directly into my laptop right there in the dimly lit storage unit, sitting on an overturned wooden crate.
The drive opened instantly, revealing a single directory filled with scanned corporate tax documents, wire transfer receipts, and internal emails dating back to 2019.
I opened the first folder labeled PROJECT HELIOS.
My eyes scanned the corporate filing records. Vance Dynamics had developed a revolutionary, high-efficiency solar battery grid worth tens of millions in government defense contracts. But as I scrolled down to the shareholder registry, my blood ran cold.
Six months before my father vanished, a unknown shell company named Apex Holdings had acquired a thirty-percent equity stake in the patent.
The signatory for Apex Holdings was Julian Vance.
I clicked on the corresponding bank transfer records. Julian hadn't bought those shares with money. He had systematically siphoned millions of dollars out of my father's offshore accounts using forged power-of-attorney documents—documents that bore my father’s signature, witnessed and notarized by none other than Carol Vance.
Julian hadn't just beaten me in our kitchen. He and his mother had systematically destroyed my father's life, stolen his life's work, and then sent Julian to marry me to ensure I would never look into my father's estate filings.
My phone vibrated in my pocket. It was a text message from an unknown number.
I opened it. It was a photo taken from across the street from my storage facility—a picture of me sitting inside Unit 408 with my laptop open.
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Beneath the photo was a text from Julian:
“You think a piece of paper from a judge stops me, Ara? Give me the flash drive, or you’ll end up just like your father.”
