Richard backed away slowly, his confidence completely shattering as two armed security guards blocked the main double doors. Victoria sank into her chair, her face buried in her hands as soft sobs echoed through the quiet room.
Arthur: Elena, come here.
Elena: Yes, Mr. Vance?
Arthur: You said someone offered you fifty thousand dollars last week. Who made the initial contact with you?
Elena: It was an anonymous phone call, but they sent the down payment through a private bank transfer to my mother's medical fund account.
Arthur: What is the name on the wire transfer receipt?
Elena: It came from a shell corporation called Apex Holdings Ltd.
Arthur's eyes widened slightly, a sudden realization washing over him. He pulled out his personal phone and quickly dialed a number on speakerphone.
Lawyer on Phone: Hello, Arthur? Is everything alright with the luncheon?
Arthur: David, who registered Apex Holdings Ltd three months ago during our corporate restructuring?
Lawyer on Phone: Let me check the registry files... Apex Holdings was registered under a joint partnership between Richard Vance and your chief financial advisor, Howard Stern.
The room gasped in unison. At the head table, Howard Stern, a long-time family friend and chief financial advisor, stood up abruptly, knocking his chair over backward onto the marble floor.
Howard: David is mistaken! That was a tax holding entity created for company real estate acquisitions in Houston!
Arthur: For real estate? Or to siphon off my estate assets the moment my heart stopped?
Howard: Arthur, you've known me for twenty years! I helped build this company alongside your father!
Arthur: And that is precisely why you knew every vulnerability in my security detail, Howard. You knew my heart condition, you knew my schedule, and you knew how to manipulate Richard's greed.
Richard: Howard told me it was just a legal scam to force you into early retirement! He never said anything about a physical attack!
Victoria: Shut up, Richard! You're making it worse!
Howard: Idiots, both of you! You couldn't even manage a simple distraction!
Arthur: It's over, Howard. The Dallas Police Department is already downstairs in the lobby.
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