PART 3: THE STRATEGIC AUDIT
PART 3: THE STRATEGIC AUDIT
Back in Raleigh, the storm had cleared, leaving the modern, glass-walled office of Vance & Associates, Legal Counsel flooded with sharp afternoon light.
Paige sat at the center of the large mahogany table, her baby sleeping peacefully in a portable bassinet beside her chair. She wore a sharp cream blazer, her posture perfectly straight, entirely different from the exhausted woman who had stood in the rain.
Beside her sat Mr. Peterson, her private financial manager, and Marcus Bell, the city's most formidable estate litigation attorney.
"They didn't just change the lock code, Paige," Marcus said, sliding a thick manila binder across the wood. "When Bryce joined your logistics firm as a junior managing partner last year, he quietly altered the corporate bylaws using a forged digital signature. He tried to merge your premarital real estate holdings into a shell company controlled entirely by his mother, Eleanor."
"He thought my recovery time after childbirth would give him a window to execute the transfer," Paige said, her voice dropping into a low, lethal baritone.
"Exactly," Mr. Peterson nodded. "He believed that by locking you out of the house physically, he could keep you frantic, ungrounded, and compliant enough to sign the closing waivers. He had no idea you kept the master server mirror routed directly to my firm's server."
The conference room doors swung open, and Bryce entered, flanked by his personal defense lawyer. His linen shirt was wrinkled from the frantic drive back from South Carolina, his previous high-society confidence completely shattered.
"Paige, please," Bryce stammered, his face turning an ugly shade of ash as he looked at the federal marshals standing near the window. "This has gone too far. My mother’s credit is ruined. The board is forcing a liquidation vote on the startup firm by tomorrow morning."
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Paige didn't look at his hands. She slowly adjusted the paperwork on her tablet, her micro-expressions smoothing out into a mask of pure, unyielding stone.
"You told me to act like a mother and work it out, Bryce," Paige said softly, her voice resonant and clear. "So I did. I worked out the math. And your family is officially bankrupt."
