Part 3: The Broken Ledger
Daniel fell backward against the empty wall, his rolling suitcase slipping from his grip and clattering loudly onto the bare floorboards.
"Mom, it was just a vacation," he stammered, his face turning an ugly shade of ash. "Claire is overreacting. She's always dramatic."
"She isn't overreacting, Daniel," his mother, Carol, hissed through the line. "The federal compliance inspectors just frozen the asset transfers for Whitmore Construction."
"What?"
"The nursery account," Carol whispered, her voice shaking with panic. "The one her parents funded. You used the corporate routing code to withdraw twenty-three thousand dollars while you were in Rome."
Daniel's chest began to heave with rapid, uneven breaths under his designer jacket.
He had believed that because the account was in our joint names, he could treat the capital like his private travel allowance.
What he didn't realize was that Victor Hayes had established the nursery savings as an unalterable educational trust three months before the twins were born.
By accessing those funds for personal leisure overseas, Daniel hadn't just spent money.
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He had committed grand larceny against his own children's estate.
"The police are already at the office, Daniel," Carol cried out, the sound of her heavy gold bracelets clinking through the speaker. "They are auditing the entire corporate tax return."
