Chapter 5: The Post-Trial Lockout
The echoes of the judge's final gavel strike still vibrated through the marble corridors of the federal courthouse.
Catherine LeChance was led toward the side exit by her civil defense team, her face an absolute mask of pale fury.
Brooke marched right behind her in her bright orange jumpsuit, her wrists tightly bound by heavy steel transport cuffs.
"This is not the final administrative alignment, Lorie!" Catherine hissed as I passed her in the hallway.
"The LeChance nameplate holds a deep secondary liquidity reserve in Delaware that your forensic team cannot touch!"
I didn't halt my stride, nor did I allow my private security detail to engage with her desperate legal handlers.
I pulled out my encrypted mobile terminal, initializing a direct, real-time sweep on their remaining corporate accounts.
"Marcus," I said as my lead trust investigator answered the priority field channel on the very first ring.
"The court order is officially stamped. Initialize the immediate execution protocol on their secondary infrastructure."
Marcus Bell’s voice boomed through the secure receiver, flat, professional, and entirely free of any family hesitation.
"The data lines are already synchronized, Lorie," Marcus reported, uploading forty pages of unredacted ledger cards.
"Catherine just attempted to authorize an emergency three-million-dollar offshore wire transfer from her hotel suite."
"The transaction was automatically flagged and blocked by the automated watermark we installed on her signature key."
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I locked my device, my jaw tightening into an iron line of pure, clinical focus as the elevator doors closed.
They genuinely believed that a court verdict was the end of the war, completely blind to the net closing around them.
