Chapter 6 - The Discovery of Velvet Table
Three weeks passed.
With the restraining order firmly in place and my mother completely out of my life, Gather and Grain launched the first phase of the Regional Healthcare contract.
It was an overwhelming success. Our production team operated like a finely tuned watch. We hired twelve new full-time kitchen staff, purchased two brand-new refrigerated delivery vans, and upgraded our commercial dishwasher to a top-of-the-line industrial model that ran as smoothly and quietly as a luxury sedan.
Meanwhile, Arthur Vance was pursuing the civil lawsuit against Vanessa for commercial defamation and tortious interference.
On a cold Tuesday morning in mid-November, Arthur called me into his downtown law office for an urgent deposition update.
"Maya, take a seat," Arthur said, sliding a thick blue binder across his desk. "We just received the financial discovery documents from Vanessa’s legal counsel regarding her former business, Velvet Table."
"Did she find a way to pay the damages?" I asked.
"No," Arthur said, a grim expression on his face. "It’s much worse than we thought. Vanessa didn't just lose Velvet Table due to poor sales or high rent. We uncovered bank records showing she committed grand larceny against her own corporate line of credit."
I blinked, leaning forward. "What do you mean?"
"Six months before Velvet Table closed," Arthur revealed, pointing at a series of flagged wire transfers, "Vanessa took out a $120,000 small business emergency loan guaranteed by the state. Instead of using it for business operations, she transferred $85,000 directly into a private offshore account in the Cayman Islands to fund her personal luxury clothes, jewelry, and vacations."
I gasped, covering my mouth. "She committed loan fraud?"
"Yes," Arthur confirmed. "And when the loan went into default, she told the bank that you were her administrative business manager who authorized the transfers. She attempted to frame you for her financial crimes three years ago, but the bank dropped it because she couldn't provide any signed authorization forms from you."
A cold shudder ran straight down my spine.
For years, I had blamed myself for not doing more to help my sister save her business. I had carried a subconscious guilt that somehow my success was built on her failure. But the truth was far more sinister: Vanessa was a serial predator who had been actively trying to use me as her financial escape hatch for years.
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"What happens now, Arthur?" I asked, my heart pounding.
"I am turning these financial records over to the Illinois State Attorney General’s Financial Crimes Bureau today," Arthur said smoothly. "Vanessa isn't just going to lose our civil lawsuit, Maya. She is facing state indictment for felony bank fraud."
