Chapter 2 - THE FIRST CLASS ILLUSIONSix miles above the Atlantic Ocean, Vanessa Crane swirled chilled vintage champagne in her crystal glass, a triumphant smile stretching across her face.
She had just received an automated confirmation from her attorney: Emergency Probate Guardianship Amendment Filed.
With Thomas Mercer dead from a suspicious heart condition and his biological children supposedly "missing and unstable" at Hawthorne International Airport, the entire multi-million-dollar Mercer family estate was falling neatly into her lap.
She opened her laptop, drafted a quick social media post expressing "profound heartbreak" over her stepchildren's sudden disappearance, and hit publish.
"Enjoy your little adventure in the terminal, you little parasites," Vanessa whispered to herself, taking a long sip of champagne.
She had covered every legal loophole. She had bribed the probate clerk. She had engineered Thomas's medical records.
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What she didn't know was that Adrian Vale didn't care about loopholes.
When Adrian Vale built an empire, he didn't play by the rules of corrupt probate judges. He wrote the rules. And forty-five minutes after Vanessa's flight took off, Adrian’s legal team had already frozen every single corporate account, trust fund, and personal credit line linked to Vanessa Crane.
