Chapter 6 - Frozen Assets
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Outside on Fifth Avenue, the morning rain continued to pour.
Ethan stood on the cold sidewalk in his silk robe, soaked to the skin within seconds. Beatrice huddled beside him under the awning of a neighboring building, shivering uncontrollably in her drenched nightgown.
“Ethan!” Beatrice shrieked, slapping his wet shoulder. “What is happening?! How could you let that little viper trick us like this?!”
“Shut up, Mom!” Ethan yelled back, pulling out his smartphone with trembling, soaked fingers. “I’m calling my lawyer! I’m calling the bank!”
He dialed his personal banker at Chase.
“This is Ethan Vale!” he shouted into the phone. “My card was just declined at my own home! Unfreeze my accounts right now!”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Vale,” the banker replied coldly over the speaker line. “We received a court injunction thirty minutes ago from Sterling Global’s legal team. All accounts registered under your name have been impounded due to allegations of corporate embezzlement and domestic liability.”
Ethan’s heart stopped. “Embezzlement? What embezzlement?!”
“Our forensic team is currently reviewing your expense reports from Vance Enterprises,” the banker continued. “Good day, Mr. Vale.”
The line went dead.
Panicked, Ethan pulled up his banking app. Every single account balance read: $0.00 (FROZEN).
“Mom,” Ethan stammered, his eyes wild with terror. “Do you have your purse? Do you have cash?”
Beatrice rummaged through the small silk pocket of her robe, pulling out a crumpled twenty-dollar bill and a lip balm.
“This is all I have!” she wept. “Ethan, we have nowhere to go! All my friends... all my socialite clubs... they’ll see us like this!”
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Ethan stared down Fifth Avenue as yellow taxis sped past, splashing dirty rainwater onto their feet.
He had gone from a multi-millionaire executive living in a palace to an unemployed, homeless beggar in under sixty minutes.
