Chapter 17 - The Trap is Sprung
Two days later, in a sleek glass-walled conference room on the fifty-fifth floor of Vance Global Holdings, the trap was set. Julian had allowed the forged SEC inquiry documents to leak into the hands of Victor Sterling's fixer, baiting them into a premature public move.
The heavy glass doors swung open, and Victor Sterling himself walked in, flanked by two aggressive corporate lawyers and a local journalist he had bribed to capture my supposed downfall. Victor looked older, his face haggard, his eyes burning with a desperate, pathetic hunger for revenge.
"Well, well, well," Victor sneered, leaning against the edge of the conference table. "Look at the high and mighty Sarah Vance. It turns out the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Embezzling from your own charity foundation? The federal investigators will be here any minute to lock you away."
I remained seated at the head of the long conference table, calm and collected, wearing a sharp charcoal blazer. I didn't flinch. I didn't raise my voice.
"You're very confident for a man standing in a federal entrapment zone, Victor," I said smoothly.
Victor laughed derisively. "You think a few threats will save you from—"
Before he could finish his sentence, the side doors opened, not with federal investigators, but with two high-ranking federal prosecutors accompanied by a cyber-crime division commander. The lead prosecutor held up an arrest warrant, its official seal gleaming under the fluorescent lights.
"Victor Sterling, you are under arrest for conspiracy to commit corporate extortion, wire fraud, and obstruction of justice," the commander announced firmly as federal agents stepped forward, sliding heavy steel cuffs around Victor's wrists.
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Victor’s jaw dropped in absolute shock. He spun around, looking desperately at his lawyers, who immediately stepped back, distancing themselves from him. "This is a setup! You framed me!"
"No, Victor," Julian said, stepping out from the private viewing alcove with a thick digital tablet displaying every recorded communication between Victor and the fixer. "You walked right into an active federal honey-pot. Your offshore accounts are completely wiped, your co-conspirators are singing to the grand jury, and your freedom is officially over."
