Chapter 2: The Paper Trail**
Victor bypassed his family limousine and flagged a yellow cab outside the estate gates. He wrapped his warm cashmere overcoat around Annie, watching the neon city blur through the rain-streaked window.
"Daddy," Annie whispered, her tiny fingers tracing the silver watch on his wrist. "Mommy is sick. The landlord locked the iron gate because we didn't have the green papers."
"I’m here now, baby," Victor murmured, kissing her forehead. His mind raced back to three years ago when Evelyn had presented him with signed legal affidavits claiming Clara had taken twenty million dollars and terminated all contact. He had buried his grief in endless business mergers across Asia, blinded by grief and family loyalty. It had all been an orchestrated lie.
At 2:00 AM, Victor arrived at the penthouse office of Arthur Vance, the Williams family’s long-standing private forensic accountant and Victor’s only trusted childhood mentor. Arthur opened the heavy mahogany door, his spectacles perched low on his nose, staring at the disheveled heir and the soot-stained child.
"Victor? What happened at the reception?"
"My mother intercepted the offshore trust accounts, Arthur," Victor said, gently placing a sleeping Annie onto the leather sofa. "Pull up every transaction routed through the Geneva and Cayman subsidiaries under the name 'Clara Miller' from 2023 to present."
Arthur’s hands flew across his keyboard. Within minutes, multiple ledgers illuminated the dual monitors. The screen revealed hundreds of wire transfers marked *Child Support & Medical Care* totaling millions. Yet, each outbound transfer had been rerouted through a shell company named *Apex Heritage Holdings*—an entity wholly owned by Victor’s younger stepbrother, Julian.
"The money never left the family vault," Arthur whispered in disbelief. "It was siphoned back into Evelyn's private offshore accounts to cover Julian’s mounting gambling debts in Macau."
Victor clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white. "Where is Clara living right now?"
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Arthur cross-referenced a recent eviction notice filed in municipal records. "The old industrial district off 4th Street. An condemned brick tenement due for demolition next week."
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