Chapter 26 - The Family Vault
"That proves nothing," Vanessa managed to choke out, her voice suddenly thin and reedy.
"Save it for the grand jury, mother," Daniel said, his voice dropping into a deadly register.
"You insolent, ungrateful boy!" Vanessa hissed, suddenly lunging toward him with bared teeth. "Do you have any idea what I sacrificed to build the Van Allen empire for you?!"
"You didn't build anything," Daniel retorted, his eyes flashing with disgust. "You inherited it from my father, and then you bled it dry with greed!"
Vanessa grabbed his lapel, her claw-like fingers digging through the fabric.
"If you let that detective file charges against me, I will strip you of every title, every share, and every cent you have ever touched!" she threatened viciously. "You will be penniless on the street with your little waitress whore!"
Daniel looked down at her hand on his chest with complete detachment.
Slowly, deliberately, he reached up and peeled her fingers away one by one, twisting her wrist just enough to make her gasp in pain.
"You think this is about money?" Daniel chuckled darkly. "You really think I care about the Van Allen fortune?"
"It's fifty billion dollars, Daniel!" Vanessa snarled. "You wouldn't survive a month without my name!"
"I don't need your name, Vanessa," Daniel whispered coldly. "In fact, I find it disgusting."
He reached into his inner jacket pocket and pulled out a slim flash drive.
"What is that?" Vanessa asked, her arrogant composure crumbling further.
"This is the duplicate ledger from the Swiss trust," Daniel said, waving the black drive before her widening eyes. "The one you hid after my father died. The one showing forty million dollars wired directly to a shell company in the Cayman Islands five days before his fatal car crash."
Vanessa gasped, clutching her throat as if she were choking on glass.
May you like
"Where... where did you get that?" she stammered, terror flashing across her eyes.
"Father knew what you were," Daniel said, stepping back with cold disdain. "And now, so does the entire world."
