Chapter 21 - The Unseen Boardroom | The champagne in my glass had gone warm and flat, but I couldn't bring myself to set it down. Returning to the ballroom felt like stepping onto a stage with an invisible sniper rifle aimed at my back.
"Claire, you're hovering," Mara murmured, appearing at my elbow with two fresh flutes of sparkling water. "Drink this. You look like you're about to faint."
"I'm not faint, Mara. I'm furious," I replied, taking the glass. I scanned the crowd of high-society donors, corrupt politicians, and corporate sycophants. They were smiling, blissfully unaware that the Vance empire’s final, lethal ember was still glowing in the dark.
"I just spoke to Marcus," Mara said softly, referencing my chief of security. "He’s doubling the outer perimeter around your penthouse. We’re switching your armored sedan for a secondary vehicle when we leave tonight."
"Good," I said, my voice dropping an octave. "What about the offshore audit?"
"My team is on it, but Richard Vance didn't earn his reputation by leaving paper trails. He used three separate shell companies in the Cayman Islands. The money moved through Zurich before vanishing into a blind trust."
I took a slow sip of water, the cold liquid cutting through the knot in my throat. "He thinks he's invisible. He thinks because he sat back and let Grant and Eleanor take the public beatings, I forgot about him."
"Didn't you?" Mara asked gently.
I looked at her, the reflection of a thousand crystal chandeliers catching in her eyes. "I thought he was a coward. I mistook his silence for surrender."
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"Well, the coward has a war chest," Mara reminded me. "And now he’s backed into a corner. What's the plan?"
"We don't wait for the feds," I said, setting my glass down on a passing tray with a deliberate, sharp snap. "We light a fire under his shell companies until the fixer has to step into the light to get paid."
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