Chapter 8 - The Midnight Audit
By eight o'clock that evening, my small Queens apartment had transformed into a high-stakes war room.
Mason Caldwell had arrived accompanied by two forensic accountants and a woman named Victoria Vance.
Victoria was a former assistant director of the SEC's enforcement division, currently serving as Mason's chief legal counsel.
They brought portable encrypted servers, forensic disk cloners, and three boxes of takeout containers from an upscale Italian restaurant.
Lily sat on the living room rug, quietly finishing her fifth-grade science homework while sneaking curious glances at the suits around our kitchen table.
"Miss Lively," Victoria said, adjusting the cuffs of her charcoal blazer as she reviewed my balance sheet comparisons.
"These journal entries don't just demonstrate gross negligence; they establish willful wire fraud and securities manipulation."
"Alden created six distinct shell entities in Grand Cayman under the umbrella of 'Ridge Horizons Holdings,'" I demonstrated, pointing to my monitor.
"He transferred forty-five million dollars of Caldwell Sovereign Trust assets to cover his margin calls on short options."
"And then he used false valuation multipliers to make it appear as though the assets were invested in high-yield European bonds," Mason added, his voice ice-cold.
"What happens when the quarterly audit triggers tomorrow morning?" I asked, looking between Victoria and Mason.
"Alden will attempt to initiate an emergency capital call from the limited partners to backfill the missing cash," Victoria explained.
"He will claim that unexpected market volatility requires an immediate twenty-percent liquidity injection from every major investor."
"And Arthur?" I asked, feeling an unexpected pang of sorrow for the old man who had given me my first chance in finance.
"Arthur is scheduled to attend an emergency executive committee dinner at the Manhattan Club at nine tomorrow night," Mason said.
"Alden intends to present the capital call documents to his father after getting him sufficiently lubricated with vintage scotch."
"He knows Arthur’s cognitive health is failing," I whispered, disgusted by the sheer depravity of the scheme.
"He's going to make his sick father sign the fraudulent filings, effectively transferring the criminal liability onto Arthur's shoulders."
"Not if we strike first," Mason said, shutting his laptop with a sharp, decisive click.
"Victoria has already prepared the civil freeze motions and emergency subpoenas for the Southern District of New York."
"We need you inside that room tomorrow night, Harper."
"Alden had security strip my access, Mason," I reminded him.
"I don't even have a valid pass to enter the lobby."
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"You don't need a pass, Harper," Mason replied, his eyes gleaming with lethal intensity.
"Tomorrow night, you walk into that dining room as my designated investment proxy with full power of attorney over two billion dollars."
