Chapter 7 - The Ruin of a Monster
“What are you talking about?” Victoria rasped, her voice reduced to a dry croak.
“Did you really think I wouldn't notice the fifty-thousand-dollar transfers moving through the dummy shell corporation you opened in Delaware?” David asked, stepping closer to her. Emma clutched his neck tightly, her sobs subsiding into small hiccups. “You were siphoning capital from Emma’s maintenance allowance to pay off your ex-husband’s gambling debts so he wouldn't expose your fraud in New York.”
Victoria’s knees buckled slightly. She caught herself on the edge of the dining table, her palm landing directly in the smeared cake.
“You thought I was blind, didn't you?” David continued, the sheer force of his presence driving her backward. “You thought I was just an exhausted widower who would hand over his daughter and his life’s work to the first pretty face that cooked a meal. But Clara taught me how wolves hunt. And she made sure I was armed before she died.”
David reached down with his free hand, picked up the red folder, and flipped it open.
“Inside this folder is a court order signed by the Chief Magistrate of the County Superior Court at four o'clock this afternoon. Your parental and guardian privileges over Emma are revoked. Your residency rights in this house are dissolved immediately. And standing outside that door right now are two plainclothes detectives with a warrant for wire fraud, embezzlement, and felony child endangerment.”
As if on cue, the heavy iron front doors pushed open once more.
Two uniformed police officers, accompanied by a female detective in a charcoal blazer, stepped into the dining room. Their handguns were holstered, but their expressions were stone-cold.
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“Victoria Vance?” the detective said, pulling a pair of handcuffs from her belt. “You need to come with us.”
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