Chapter 7 - The Secret Ledger
By 8:00 PM that night, Elena Vance and I were reviewing the contents of the black ThinkPad in a private conference suite at Vance & Sterling.
Brielle had delivered the laptop to Elena's paralegal in exchange for an official cooperation agreement submitted to the prosecutor’s office. She had packed her bags and boarded a bus back to her parents’ home in Ohio, terrified of the impending legal explosion.
Elena clicked through folder after encrypted folder, which had been quickly unlocked by our cyber forensics team. Her whistle was low and sharp.
"Look at this, Laurel," Elena said, turning the dual monitors toward me. "He wasn't just skimming from the studio. He had set up dummy consulting firms billing your investment portfolio for phantom marketing services."
On the screen was a detailed ledger spanning twenty-four months. In total, Trent had embezzled nearly six million dollars from joint investment vehicles and accounts I had funded.
"And look at the recipients," I noted, my eyes narrowing as I recognized the names. "Dale Sterling. Evelyn Sterling. He was funneling forty thousand dollars a month directly into his parents' shell company."
"Which makes them co-conspirators in money laundering," Elena noted with satisfaction. "Dale and Evelyn aren't just annoying in-laws anymore. They're primary targets in a federal wire fraud indictment."
Just then, my phone buzzed with an urgent email alert. It was a notification from the Manhattan Grand Hyatt banquet division.
"What is that?" Elena asked.
"Trent booked the Grand Ballroom four months ago for the 'Annual Sterling Media Gala,'" I said, staring at the screen. "It's scheduled for tomorrow night. He invited three dozen angel investors, high-net-worth clients, and tech venture capitalists."
"He can't afford that room," Elena pointed out. "The final deposit was due yesterday."
"He couldn't afford it," I said, a slow, lethal smile touching my lips. "Until I quietly authorized my fund to cover the venue deposit an hour ago."
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Elena looked at me, stunned. "You paid for his gala? Why?"
"Because Trent has spent his entire life hiding behind closed doors and charming people in dark corners," I said, closing the laptop with a definitive snap. "He wanted an audience the night he introduced Brielle to my dining table. Tomorrow night, I'm going to give him the biggest audience of his life."
