Chapter 7 - The Mastermind FallsI leaned over the desk, pretending to inspect the signature line of the quitclaim document.
"One question, Graham," I said softly, looking up into his eyes.
"What?" he asked, impatient.
"Did your mother really think she was going to live in Unit 14C? Or was she just the sacrificial pawn you threw at me to distract me while you finished this transfer?"
Graham sneered. "My mother is an idiot who does what she’s told. She thought she was getting a luxury condo. She was just the noise to keep you busy while Victoria and I cleared out your holding company."
Behind him, Victoria’s expression tightened, but she said nothing.
"Good to know," I said.
I pressed my right thumb firmly onto the digital scanner connected to the laptop—not to sign the quitclaim, but to trigger the custom script David had uploaded into the system five minutes earlier.
BEEP.
The laptop screen instantly flashed from blue to deep red.
A loud, repeating alarm tone echoed from the computer speakers.
CRITICAL SECURITY BREACH: UNAUTHORIZED SYSTEM OVERRIDE. DESTINATION ROUTING REDIRECTED: ESCROW TRUST ACCT #8841-US-COURT. FUNDS TRANSFERRED: $3,450,000.00.
Graham’s face went completely drain-white. He lunged for the keyboard, his fingers hitting keys frantically.
"What did you do?!" he screamed, his voice cracking into a panicked register. "What did you just do?!"
"I didn't sign your contract, Graham," I said smoothly, stepping back away from the desk. "I authorized the execution of the federal wire fraud recovery protocol. Every dollar you stole from me—plus the $2 million Victoria funneled through Apex Horizon—just got locked into an irrevocable federal escrow account."
"You bitch!" Graham roared, raising his hand to strike me.
BANG!
The suite door was kicked open violently.
Detective Raymond and four uniformed police officers flooded into the penthouse with weapons drawn.
"Police! Hands where we can see them! On the ground! NOW!"
Victoria let out a sharp shriek, instantly raising her hands into the air and dropping to her knees. "It was him! It was all Graham! I was just an investor! I didn't know the deeds were forged!"
"Victoria, shut up!" Graham yelled, but an officer tackled him to the carpet, forcing his arms behind his back and clicking the steel handcuffs into place around his wrists.
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I stood over Graham as he lay pressed against the carpet, his face twisted in desperate rage.
"You said I was nothing but expensive trash with a mortgage," I said, leaning down so only he could hear me. "Turns out, I’m the owner of everything you thought you stole. Have fun in federal prison, Graham."
