Chapter 4 - Panic at the Estate
While I sipped tea in the quiet sanctuary of the West Loop loft, absolute chaos was erupting inside the sprawling Gold Coast mansion belonging to Eleanor Vance.
The glittering post-gala celebration had devolved into a screaming match that could be heard through the imported mahogany doors of the family study.
"What do you mean her phone is disconnected?!" Dominic yelled, pacing a trench into the Persian rug, his bow tie undone and dangling limply around his collar. "I've tried calling her forty times! She's blocked me!"
Eleanor sat behind her massive mahogany desk, massaging her temples with a hand heavy with emerald rings. Her face was ashen. "Stop panicking like a schoolboy, Dominic! She’s throwing a tantrum. She’ll be staying at some cheap hotel downtown, crying into a pillow until morning. Once we threaten to cut off her credit cards—"
"Her credit cards are linked to the joint business account, Mom!" Dominic shouted, stopping in his tracks. "And when I just tried to log into the corporate portal to authorize the wire transfer for the morning shipment... the account was frozen by federal audit!"
Chloe froze midway through pouring herself a glass of scotch, her hand shaking so badly the crystal decanter clinked loudly against the rim. "Frozen? What do you mean frozen? Who would freeze our accounts?"
Before Dominic could answer, the heavy double doors of the study burst open without a knock.
Sully, the family’s longtime estate manager, rushed inside, holding a thick sheaf of legal papers, his face drained of all color.
"Mr. Dominic... Mrs. Vance," Sully stammered, breathless. "There are... federal agents at the front gate. And municipal marshals. They're serving an emergency seizure warrant on the main estate and the logistics warehouses."
Eleanor rose from her chair so fast it tipped over backward, crashing against the wainscoting. "Seizure warrant?! On what grounds?! We are the Vances! This family built half of downtown Chicago!"
Sully swallowed hard, handing a single page to Dominic. "Insurance fraud, wire fraud, and... commercial forgery involving forged marital equity signatures."
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Dominic’s eyes scanned the document. His face turned the color of curdled milk. At the bottom of the page, listed as the primary financial whistleblower who submitted the forensic audit trail directly to the federal prosecutor’s office, was a name he hadn't expected to see ever again.
Vivienne Vance.
