Chapter 5 - THE MIDNIGHT VISITATIONThirty minutes later, I pushed open the door to Room 412 alone. Ethan had stayed behind in the hallway, needing a moment to process the depth of the betrayal before facing his brother.
Julian was lying in the hospital bed, propped up on pillows, an IV drip snaking into the back of his hand. His face was pale, his eyes sunken and bloodshot. When he saw me walk through the door, a flicker of panic crossed his features, quickly masked by his habitual arrogance.
"Eleanor," Julian croaked, his voice raspy from the oxygen tube. "Thank God. Get me out of here. My mother is out of her mind, and Ethan is threatening to kill me in the hallway. You need to talk some sense into him."
I didn't answer right away. I pulled up a chair beside his bed, sat down gracefully, and crossed my legs, resting my hands in my lap.
Julian frowned, shifting uncomfortably under the sheets. "Why are you looking at me like that? Did you bring my clothes? I want to go home."
"There is no home to go back to, Julian," I said softly.
He scoffed, a weak attempt at intimidation. "Don't be dramatic. We have a pre-nup, and my firm owns the house. You’ll get a settlement, we’ll issue a quiet statement about 'irreconcilable differences,' and life will go on."
"Life will go on," I agreed, "just not yours the way you planned it."
I reached into my bag, pulled out a printed copy of the federal complaint, and laid it flat across his hospital tray table.
Julian’s eyes scanned the top page. United States District Court vs. Julian Vance. Charges: Wire Fraud, Embezzlement, Money Laundering.
The color drained from his face so fast the monitors beside him began to beep with a slightly faster rhythm.
"This... this is a joke," he stammered, grabbing the paper with shaking fingers. "You can't do this. This will destroy my firm! This will destroy me!"
"You destroyed yourself the moment you thought you were smarter than everyone in this room," I said, leaning forward, my voice dropping to a chilling whisper. "You thought you could starve me out, treat me like furniture, and spend my family's money on Sienna while Ethan worked himself to death. You forgot one very important thing, Julian."
"What?" he breathed, terror clutching his throat.
"I signed every initial incorporation paper when we founded your firm nine years ago," I smiled coldly. "Every fraudulent wire transfer bears your IP address and your digital signature, but the legal liability for the primary corporate accounts... goes through my office as managing partner."
Julian stared at me, realization hitting him like a physical blow. "You set up the corporate structure so you could take the fall if things went south?"
"No," I corrected him gently. "I set it up so that when you inevitably tripped over your own greed, I held the master key to lock you inside your own cell."
The heart monitor beside him spiked, emitting a sharp, rhythmic alarm as nurses rushed through the door.
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"Page Dr. Chen!" a nurse shouted, grabbing the crash cart.
I stood up, smoothed down my skirt, and walked toward the exit without looking back. Julian was screaming my name, but his voice was drowned out by the alarms.
