Maya: Dad knew what you were doing to him. That's why he looked so broken during our last conversation.
Arthur Vance: David spent his last conscious days working with forensic accountants, Maya. Every dollar Victoria moved was tracked and recorded.
Arthur slid a second stack of documents across the table. These sheets were covered in banking timestamps and wire confirmation numbers.
Julian: Mom, what are these wire transfers to an offshore trust in the Cayman Islands?
Victoria: Be quiet, Julian! Don't answer any questions without our defense attorneys present in this room.
Julian: You told me that money was spent paying down the corporate mezzanine mortgage! Why is my name listed as an authorized signer on an offshore account?
Arthur Vance: Because your mother needed a second signature to bypass the board's internal audit thresholds.
Julian stared down at the documents, his breath coming in shallow, ragged bursts.
Julian: You used my signature stamp? Mom, did you forge my corporate authorization on these tax filings?
Victoria: I did what I had to do to secure our standing! David was going to leave everything to his precious Maya!
Maya: Dad loved Julian like his own son! He gave him a vice president title the day he graduated college!
Victoria: A title with zero voting shares! David never intended for Julian to lead this company. He treated Julian like a second-class citizen!
Arthur Vance: David treated Julian with fairness, Victoria. He intended to give Julian forty percent of the operating shares upon his thirty-fifth birthday.
Julian looked up at the ceiling, blinking back sudden tears of shock.
Julian: Forty percent? You told me David wrote me out of the family will entirely three years ago.
Victoria: He was manipulating us! Can't you see Vance is twisting the narrative to give Maya the entire inheritance?
Arthur Vance: I don't twist anything, Victoria. I only read David's explicit sworn instructions.
Arthur adjusted his reading glasses, pulling a notarized blue-backed document from the bottom of the folder.
Arthur Vance: Paragraph seven: In the event of fraudulent asset redirection by my spouse Victoria Sterling, all executive privileges, marital trust distributions, and estate allowances are immediately revoked for cause.
Victoria jumped up again, her eyes wide with desperate fury.
Victoria: That clause is void! A spouse cannot be completely disinherited under state marital property statutes!
Arthur Vance: A spouse can indeed be disinherited for grand larceny and willful breach of fiduciary duty, Victoria.
Maya felt a strange calm settle over her chest, replacing the exhaustion of the past three years.
Maya: What happens to the company now, Mr. Vance?
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