Chapter 5 - The Aftermath and the Audit
The morning sun washed over my Tribeca loft, painting the white oak floors in warm, golden light. There were no screaming family members, no passive-aggressive remarks over morning coffee, and no toxic tension lingering in the hallways. Just absolute, glorious peace.
My phone rang while I was pouring my first cup of artisanal coffee. It was Marcus Vance—no relation to my ex, thankfully—the senior partner at Sterling & Vance Forensics, the firm I had hired to dig into my corporate accounts.
“Sloan, good morning,” Marcus said briskly. “I hope I’m not calling too early.”
“Not at all, Marcus. What do you have for me?” I leaned against the marble island, sipping my coffee.
“We finished running a full forensic audit on the routing numbers and shell companies associated with your husband’s recent transactions. I have to say, Sloan, it’s worse than we initially thought.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Worse than $30,000 a month in unauthorized wire transfers?”
“Try closer to two million dollars over the past eighteen months,” Marcus replied gravely. “He didn't just siphon corporate operational funds. He used your corporate credit lines to secure high-interest personal loans, register three separate shell companies in the British Virgin Islands, and even tried to quietly purchase a luxury waterfront condo in Miami under a trust fund managed by his mother.”
A cold anger flared in my chest, quickly replaced by clinical focus. Vance wasn't just a petty thief; he was an ambitious fraudster who had systematically planned to bleed my company dry before staging a hostile takeover or a devastating divorce settlement.
“Can we freeze the Miami property?” I asked.
“Already done. Our legal team filed an emergency injunction late last night. The title is locked, and the funds are secured pending criminal prosecution. Vance’s signature on those corporate transfer requests constitutes corporate identity theft and felony grand larceny. He’s facing serious federal prison time, Sloan.”
“Good,” I said firmly. “I want to press charges to the absolute fullest extent of the law. No plea deals, no leniency.”
“Understood. I’ll forward the complete dossier to your corporate counsel and the District Attorney’s office by noon today.”
After hanging up, I sat down at my glass home-office desk and opened my laptop. My calendar was packed with investor meetings and product roadmap reviews for Aegis Security. For the past two years, I had constantly juggled my business duties with managing Vance’s fragile ego, apologizing for his laziness, and playing peacekeeper with his toxic family.
Now, with all that dead weight surgically removed, my mind felt sharper and more focused than it had in years.
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By midday, my legal team had officially filed the divorce petition and the criminal fraud charges against Vance. The papers were served to him at his mother’s suburban house—the very place he had likely retreated to lick his wounds and plot his next move.
Little did he know, his legal options had officially shrunk to zero.
