Chapter 2: The Digital Erasure
David took a hesitant step forward, his brow furrowed in confusion. "What is that? A budget report? Don't think you can guilt me into—"
He stopped. His eyes scanned the interface, and his breath hitched. The screen displayed a real-time banking dashboard—the primary interface for the Sterling-Vance Venture Fund, the heartbeat of his entire empire. But the numbers didn't make sense. The accounts weren't just empty; they were closed. The primary holdings had been transferred, liquidated, and redistributed into an untraceable private trust under Elena’s name.
"What did you do?" David whispered, his hands beginning to tremble so violently that he had to grip the edge of the quartz island to stay upright. "Where is the capital? Where are the holdings?"
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Beatrice leaned in, her eyes darting across the rows of zeroes. She looked at the phone, then at Elena, and then back at the phone. Her initial smugness began to dissolve, replaced by a frantic, jagged realization. "This... this is a glitch. You’ve hacked the system. You’ll be in prison for this by noon!"
"Hacking implies I broke in, Beatrice," Elena replied, her smile widening into something truly predatory. "I didn't break in. I was given access. Every time David asked me to sign 'simple' documents to 'streamline' his investments, I was actually granting myself administrative power of attorney. I’ve spent the last three months unwinding his empire piece by piece. The house, the stocks, the offshore accounts... everything is gone. You’re currently standing in a kitchen that legally belongs to a charitable foundation I founded this morning."
