Chapter 6 - Unmasking the Golden Boy
Sophie gasped, her hand flying to her throat as she gripped the table. ""You can't take Julian's car! That was a gift from his father!""
""It was purchased using a corporate line of credit secured against commercial collateral that I now own,"" I replied, fixing Sophie with a look so cold she visibly shrank back into her chair. ""In legal terms, it's an illegal conversion of encumbered corporate assets. I can either take the keys right now, or Marcus can hand this file to the Cook County state's attorney for felony embezzlement.""
Julian’s breath hitched in his chest. ""Embezzlement? Liv, I'm your brother!""
""You weren't my brother three nights ago, Julian,"" I said, my voice cutting through the room like a scalpel. ""Three nights ago, you laughed in my face while Dad stripped away my home. You asked me what I had achieved today. You asked me if I had fixed a typo while you closed thirty-million-dollar deals. Well, Julian... let's talk about your thirty-million-dollar deals.""
I tapped the screen of my tablet, and the two massive monitors mounted on the boardroom wall flared to life.
A spreadsheet appeared, detailing the exact financial movements of Williams Logistics over the preceding twenty-four months.
""Between January and August of this year,"" I said, reading the certified forensic audit, ""Julian transferred four hundred and eighty thousand dollars from the employee pension reserve account into an offshore crypto brokerage registered in Belize.""
Dad’s eyes snapped open. He turned his head toward Julian, his jaw dropping in sheer disbelief. ""You did what?""
""Dad, it was an arbitrage fund!"" Julian stammered, sweat breaking out across his forehead, running down his temples in greasy streaks. ""The returns were guaranteed! I was trying to cover the cash shortfall from the Indianapolis project before the quarterly audit!""
""The fund collapsed in September, didn't it, Julian?"" I asked, scrolling to the next slide on the screen. ""You lost every penny. And to cover the missing pension reserve, you took out a high-interest hard-money loan from a private lender in Gary, Indiana, using the deed to the city condo as unauthorized collateral.""
Mom let out a strangled shriek, burying her face in her hands. ""The condo? Julian, you risked the condo?!""
Sophie looked at her husband with sudden, venomous disgust, pulling her hands away from him as if he were covered in plague. ""You told me the condo was completely debt-free! You told me your father signed over the deed clean!""
""He lied to you, Sophie,"" I said smoothly. ""Just like he lied to Dad. Just like he's lied to every person who ever trusted him with a dollar. Julian didn't conquer the world. Julian is a fraudulent failure who hid his incompetence behind our father's blind favoritism.""
Dad sat frozen, staring at his son as if the golden pedestal he had built over thirty years had just crumbled into a pile of toxic ash. The realization hit him with physical force: the son he had crowned king had systematically dismantled the family company from the inside out, while the daughter he had kicked to the curb had built an eight-hundred-million-dollar empire with her bare hands.
""Richard..."" Mom sobbed, tugging at Dad’s sleeve. ""Do something... say something...""
Dad didn't move. He looked down at his own trembling hands, completely broken.
""The total liability attributable to Julian's unauthorized actions is one million two hundred thousand dollars,"" Marcus announced from the side of the table, his tone clinical and detached. ""Under the terms of the senior lien agreement, Streamline Holdings has the immediate right to refer these findings to law enforcement authorities.""
""Please,"" Julian whispered, collapsing forward against the glass, tears finally spilling over his lashes. He looked up at me, his face red and snot-stained, stripped of every shred of dignity. ""Olivia, please don't send me to prison. I'm begging you. I have a wife. We're trying to start a family. I'll do anything. I'll resign today. I'll sign whatever you want.""
I watched him weep for a moment. For five years, I had dreamed of this moment—of proving my worth, of making them see that I wasn't the weak, useless daughter they had dismissed. But now that the moment was here, I felt no triumphant rush. I only felt a deep, profound clarity.
""Sign the title to the Porsche, Julian,"" I said softly.
Julian’s shaking hand grabbed the pen from the table. He scribbled his signature across the vehicle title transfer without reading a single word.
""Now sign the deed of surrender for the condo,"" I added.
Sophie looked up, tears streaking her foundation. ""Olivia... where are we supposed to live? Our lease on the rental ended yesterday! All our furniture is in that condo!""
""There are plenty of studio apartments in Pilsen,"" I replied, holding her gaze. ""The radiators clang in winter, and the buses run every forty minutes. It's a wonderful place to learn resilience. Sink or swim, Sophie.""
With a trembling hand, Julian signed the second deed.
May you like
I gathered the documents and handed them to Marcus.
""Now,"" I said, turning my attention to my father, who was staring at the table like a hollow shell of a man. ""Let's talk about Williams Logistics.""
