Chapter 2 - The First Casualty
The hospital room smelled of antiseptic and cold iron. My pulse monitor beeped in a steady, monotonous rhythm, keeping time with the fury building inside my chest. One hundred and eighty thousand dollars. Siphoned directly from the medical reserve trust under a fraudulent requisition code—funneled straight into Chloe’s personal high-yield account just two days before they booked first-class tickets to Charles de Gaulle.
They hadn’t just left me to die on a graduation stage; they had looted my safety net to pay for croissants and champagne in the City of Light.
Attorney Vincent Vance arrived forty minutes later. He was a sharp-eyed bulldog of a lawyer who specialized in corporate restructuring and trust litigation. When he walked in, his tailored charcoal suit looked entirely out of place next to the IV pole and the plastic water pitcher, but his gaze was razor-sharp.
“Mr. Mercer,” Vincent said, pulling up a chair and tapping a slim leather briefcase against his knee. “Nurse Elena said you had an emergency distribution matter. The nurses outside mentioned you suffered an aneurysm. Are you well enough for this?”
“I’m alive, Vincent. That’s all the qualification you need,” I whispered, my voice still raspy from the intubation tube. I slid my tablet across the tray table. “Take a look at line item 44b on the trust portal ledger.”
Vincent adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses, swiped through the document, and frowned. The ambient noise of the hospital corridor faded as he read the transaction details. A slow, knowing smile crept across his lips.
“Unauthorized transfer from the restricted medical reserve,” Vincent murmured, tapping the screen. “Sub-account holder: Chloe Mercer. Destination: Personal checking, routing number ending in 8841. This isn't just a breach of fiduciary duty. This is embezzlement from a protected family trust.”
“Can we freeze everything?” I asked, leaning back against the scratchy hospital pillow.
“Freeze it?” Vincent chuckled darkly. “Arthur, we can do much better than that. As temporary trustee, you hold absolute executive authority over all Mercer Family Holdings assets during active solvency audits. The moment they landed in Paris, they triggered an automated financial review clause. All corporate accounts, personal credit cards, and asset lines are currently tethered to your cryptographic signature.”
My phone buzzed on the tray.
A missed call. Then another.
Dad.
Vincent pointed at the screen. “Don't answer yet. Let them sweat in the lobby of the George V. Do you know how much cash they have left in liquid accounts right now?”
“If they used their primary Visa, about five hundred dollars,” I said flatly. “The rest was supposed to come from the trust’s weekly living allowance disbursement, which drops every Monday at midnight.”
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“Which is today,” Vincent said, standing up and buttoning his jacket. “Shall we turn off the tap?”
“Cut it completely,” I whispered. “And Vincent? File the motion for emergency asset seizure regarding the 180k. Let’s see how much they smile when their hotel keys stop working.”
