Chapter 3: The Digital Reckoning
Mark laughed, though the sound was brittle and lacked conviction. "Inheritance? This house belongs to the Vance Trust. I am the sole trustee. Your daughter is a nobody. She has no rights here!"
"That’s where you’re wrong," Catherine said, her thumb hovering over the screen of her phone. She tapped a command, and the house’s automated security system flickered, the lights dimming and then turning a deep, pulsating red. "The Vance Trust was a shell, Mark. A decoy created to lure out the parasites. And you, it seems, were the hungriest of the lot."
May you like
She turned the phone toward him, displaying a live document—a digital deed and a record of transfer. "You see, Mark, when you 'married' Elena, you didn't just acquire a wife. You unwittingly signed a series of corporate 'maintenance' documents. Every cent you’ve spent in this house, every investment you’ve made, has been routed through a subsidiary owned by my daughter. You aren't the landlord. You’re the employee who hasn't been paid in years."
The color drained from Mark’s face. He looked at the phone, his fingers shaking as he tried to grab it, but Catherine pulled back, her eyes flashing with a protective, lethal intensity.
