Chapter 4 - The Financial Audit
An hour later, I was resting in a private, high-security suite at Emory University Hospital. A team of burn specialists carefully dressed my wounds, confirming that while the burns were severe second-degree injuries, proper medical treatment would prevent permanent scarring.
Marcus sat in the armchair beside my bed, surrounded by financial ledgers, bank statements, and corporate filings.
"We ran a preliminary forensic audit on Gabriel and his family's finances while you were in triage," Marcus said, opening a thick leather folder. "What we found is mind-boggling, Evelyn. Gabriel didn't just marry you because he fancied himself a wealthy man's son-in-law. His family firm, Vance Logistics, is completely insolvent."
I adjusted my pillows, listening intently. "Insolvent? But Gabriel drove a hundred-thousand-dollar sports car and boasted about his family's fortune every day."
"All smoke and mirrors," Marcus scoffed, sliding a bank statement toward me. "Raul Vance, Gabriel's father, lost eight million dollars in illegal offshore trading three months ago. To keep the company afloat, Gabriel took out a massive high-interest loan with a predatory lending firm, putting up their family estate as collateral. They needed your father's twenty-million-dollar inheritance to pay off the debt before the foreclosure hits next month."
"So my wedding wasn't a marriage," I said, a bitter smile touching my lips. "It was a corporate takeover."
"Precisely," Marcus nodded. "And it gets worse. Gabriel has been skimming money from your joint household account—the one you opened for wedding expenses—to pay off his personal credit card debts and buy expensive jewelry for a woman named Chloe Miller."
My eyes narrowed. "Chloe Miller? His executive secretary?"
"Yes," Marcus confirmed, pulling out a set of surveillance photos provided by a private investigator. "While you were planning the wedding, Gabriel was spending weekends with Chloe at luxury resorts in Miami, charging it to your card under the guise of 'business travel.'"
I took the photos, staring at the images of Gabriel laughing on a yacht with his secretary, holding champagne glasses while I was at home grieving my father’s death.
The lingering ache in my heart completely vanished, replaced by an iron resolve.
"Marcus," I said, looking up at my attorney. "I want you to file for an immediate annulment on the grounds of fraud, physical battery, and financial coercion. But before the ink dries on that filing, I want every asset tied to Vance Logistics frozen under the Fraudulent Transfers Act."
"Already motioned," Marcus smiled wolfishly. "Because Gabriel used your funds to pay off Vance Logistics' debt, we have legally linked your estate to their corporate liabilities. By tomorrow morning, the courts will freeze every single asset owned by Raul, Patricia, and Gabriel Vance."
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"What about Chloe Miller?" I asked.
"Chloe Miller is about to receive a subpoena from the District Attorney's office regarding corporate embezzlement," Marcus replied. "The dominoes are falling, Evelyn. And they're falling fast."
