Chapter 11 - The Phantom Board Member
The federal marshals escorted Arthur and David out into the pouring rain, leaving the house dead silent once more. Special Agent Miller remained behind, standing by the kitchen counter where Emma’s phone was still plugged in. The flashing red light on the security panel had stopped, replaced by a steady green glow as the system reset itself.
“He was bluffing about the Zurich server,” Agent Miller said, looking down at her tablet. “Our cyber unit locked down their European routing nodes three hours ago. Nothing was wiped.”
Emma walked over to the coffee table and picked up the heavy leather ledger, her fingers tracing the faded gold lettering. “David wasn't lying about the fourth person, though. Julian and Arthur were just the front men. There’s someone else who funded this entire operation from the very beginning—someone who actually holds the voting rights to the parent company in Delaware.”
Agent Miller tapped her tablet, bringing up a complex corporate tree diagram. “We pulled the ultimate beneficiary records from the Delaware Secretary of State’s office ten minutes ago. The name on the primary trust is a holding entity called Nullarbor Holdings.”
Emma frowned. “Nullarbor? That’s an Australian shell corporation. My father’s firm never had international ties.”
“It didn't—until five years ago, exactly three weeks after your father passed away,” Agent Miller said, turning the tablet around so Emma could see the screen. “The company was purchased by a silent investor who used a proxy signature to remain entirely anonymous. And according to the transaction logs, that proxy signature belongs to Victoria’s father—Richard Sterling.”
Emma dropped the ledger back onto the table with a heavy thud. Victoria wasn't just a corporate distraction or a pawn for Julian; she was the heiress to the very empire that had orchestrated her father’s downfall.
Before Agent Miller could answer, Emma’s phone buzzed on the counter. It wasn't a text; it was a live video feed link from an unknown sender, accompanied by a single address: Apex Logistics Central Warehouse, Bay 4.
Emma tapped the link. The live video feed opened to show Victoria standing alone inside the dimly lit warehouse bay, holding a red gas can, staring directly into a security camera with a wild, unhinged look in her eyes.
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“If you want the remaining shares of the company, Emma,” Victoria’s voice echoed through the phone speaker, distorted and manic, “come down to Bay 4 before I burn the entire inventory to ash.”
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