Chapter 4 - The Spider’s Web
The final piece of the puzzle clicked into place like the hammer of a loaded revolver.
Every humiliating comment, every cruel lecture at Thanksgiving, every time my father mocked my ambition and elevated my incompetent brother—it hadn't been about patriarchal favoritism at all.
It was cold, calculated fraud.
When my first venture failed at twenty-four, my father hadn't offered advice because he needed me broken, penniless, and dependent. He needed a documented paper trail proving I was incapable of managing commercial assets so he could convince the family probate court to void my grandfather's trust.
Then I had built Meridian in complete secrecy.
When the forty-seven million dollar acquisition flashed across that sports bar television at Thanksgiving, Edward Morse hadn't just looked shocked because his daughter was wealthy. He had looked terrified because he realized my success had just triggered the legal mechanism that would strip him of his entire corporate kingdom.
"He wasn't trying to help Blake build a future," I muttered, staring at the notarized signatures on my screen. "He was using Blake as a dummy proxy to keep my grandfather's fortune in his personal hands."
"What's the plan?" Tobias asked, crossing his arms with a grim grin spreading across his face.
"Does Dad know we have access to this drive?"
"Not a chance. He thinks his local IT department wiped the log cache yesterday morning."
"Good," I smiled, feeling a cold fire ignite in my chest. "Let him believe his trap is closing around my neck. Let him put on his finest tuxedo for the business gala on Friday."
May you like
I picked up my phone and dialed the senior partner of the most ruthless forensic corporate litigation firm in Washington, D.C.
"David," I said when the line connected. "I have a multi-million dollar fraud case ready to file in federal district court, and I want the injunction served under the chandeliers of the Halcyon Club."
