Chapter 12
At exactly eight o'clock in the morning, the silence of the suite was broken by the sharp, authoritative ring of Julian’s cell phone resting on the desk. All three of them froze instantly, the phantom anxiety of the previous night flaring up for a fraction of a second. Julian took a deep breath, picked up the device, and pressed the speakerphone button so Clara and Chloe could hear every word. "Vance," Julian answered, his voice steady and professional. Marcus’s gravelly voice came through the speaker instantly. "Good morning, Mr. Vance. I see you're up early. Have you had time to review the recovery protocol I left you last night?" Julian leaned back in his chair, looking directly at Clara before speaking. "I’ve reviewed every page, Marcus. And I’ve signed the authorization forms. We are cooperating fully with your firm, and I’m turning over my personal asset records to the federal investigators by noon today." A brief pause hung on the line, followed by the sound of Marcus shuffling some papers on his end.
"That is a very wise decision, Julian," Marcus said, his tone softening just a fraction, losing its previous adversarial edge. "Transparency changes everything. It separates the victims from the accomplices. Your former partner has already tried to flee the jurisdiction, but with these new documents, federal marshals have frozen his offshore accounts as of ten minutes ago." Clara let out a long, shuddering breath of relief, burying her face in her hands as the final piece of the nightmare finally clicked into place. The financial cloud that had hung over Julian’s head for over two years was finally dissipating, dismantled by the sheer power of radical honesty. "Thank you, Marcus," Julian said sincerely. "For handling this professionally, and for forcing our hand when we needed it most." Marcus chuckled softly on the other end. "Just doing my job, Mr. Vance. Enjoy your first day of married life—the real kind, this time." The line went dead with a soft click.
