Chapter 3 - The Desperate CounterattackThree days later.
The fall from grace was swift and unforgiving for the Vance family.
Evicted from the grand penthouse, stripped of their corporate credit cards, and locked out of their bank accounts pending the criminal investigation, Daniel and Patricia had been forced to check into a small, mid-tier airport motel on the outskirts of the city.
In a cramped room smelling of stale tobacco and cheap carpet, Patricia sat on the edge of a unmade bed, weeping hysterical tears into a paper napkin.
"Look at us, Daniel!" Patricia wailed, gesturing wildly at the stained walls. "I am a Vance! I belong in country clubs and charity galas! How could that ungrateful little viper do this to us?! We took her in! We gave her our family name!"
Daniel sat at a small plastic table, staring blankly at a bottle of cheap whiskey. "Shut up, Mom," he muttered numbly. "Just shut up."
"Don't you talk to me like that!" Patricia shrieked. "You're the one who lost everything! If you hadn't brought that shallow Chloe girl into our house before the divorce papers were signed, Elena wouldn't have been pushed to destroy us!"
"Chloe left for London yesterday," Daniel said bitterly, taking a heavy swig from the bottle. "Her father cut her off, and their hedge fund pulled out of every deal connected to us. No one is answering my calls. Not my friends, not my college buddies, not even my lawyer."
Suddenly, the door to the motel room was kicked open with a loud THUD.
Two men in dark, unbranded leather jackets stepped inside. Behind them stood Richard Dupont—Chloe’s father—a harsh, ruthless financier with a reputation for merciless business tactics.
"Richard!" Patricia gasped, standing up and trying to smooth her wrinkled blouse. "Thank goodness! Have you come to help us handle this legal misunderstanding?"
Richard Dupont didn't smile. He walked straight over to Daniel, grabbed him by the lapels of his jacket, and shoved him violently against the wall.
"You pathetic, ignorant idiot," Dupont hissed through clenched teeth. "Because of your stupid affair with my daughter and your fake status as CEO, I invested fifteen million dollars into your fraudulent logistics shell company!"
"Richard, wait! I can explain!" Daniel choked out, his hands gripping Dupont’s wrists. "It's not my fault! Elena manipulated everything! She held the majority shares in secret!"
"I don't give a damn about your ex-wife's shares!" Dupont barked, tossing Daniel onto the floor like a sack of trash. "The federal auditors seized my investment accounts this morning because your name was on the transfer documents! My firm is under investigation because of you!"
Daniel scrambled backward against the wall, terror in his eyes. "What do you want from me?! I have nothing left!"
Dupont leaned down, his eyes cold as flint. "You have one thing left. The board meeting tomorrow morning at Ward International. You are going to go in there, and you are going to claim that Elena coerced you into signing those financial transfers. You are going to take the fall for the shell companies, but you are going to drag her name into the mud so the stock crashes and I can buy out her shares!"
"And if I don't?" Daniel whimpered.
Dupont stepped back, gesturing to his two heavy-set men. "If you don't, I will make sure the evidence I hold regarding your personal tax evasion reaches the federal prosecutor before noon. You won't just go to state prison, Daniel. You'll disappear into a maximum-security cell for thirty years."
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Daniel looked at his weeping mother, then up at the ruthless businessman standing over him. He felt like a rat trapped in a sinking ship, snapping at anything just to stay above water.
"Okay," Daniel whispered, his voice trembling with pathetic fear. "I'll do it. I'll destroy her."
