Chapter 5 - The Confrontation

Three days later, the hospital room was tense. Vanessa, pale and shackled to the bed, looked up as the door opened. She expected Richard to gloat. She expected him to be angry.
Instead, he looked bored.
"The police are outside," Richard said. "But I told them I’d hold off on pressing charges for the attempted murder if you gave me the names of the others."
Vanessa laughed, a dry, cracking sound. "You think you won? Julian Vane has already moved your assets into shell companies in the Caymans. You’re broke, Richard. You’re a ghost."
Richard smiled. "You’re right. I moved those assets. Into a blind trust controlled by a foundation managed by a girl named Maya."
Vanessa’s face went white. "You did what?"
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"You underestimated the street, Vanessa. You thought because someone looked poor, they were irrelevant. Maya isn't just a girl. She’s the daughter of a forensic accountant I trusted for twenty years. She’s been inside your digital life for months. Everything you stole? It’s gone. It’s been donated to the very charities you used as a front."
Vanessa screamed, pulling against her restraints. She had lost everything—her money, her reputation, and her freedom.