Chapter 8: The Hidden Ledger**
While Lily slept soundly on a cushioned pew beneath a warm wool blanket provided by Father Dominic, Julian sat in the parish office, utilizing an old desktop computer.
Marcus’s words kept echoing in his mind: *“She used an intermediary.”*
Evelyn was meticulous, but Julian had built Vance Logistics from the ground up; he knew the internal architecture of every server, ledger, and subsidiary better than anyone alive. If Evelyn had funneled company money into a private mercenary outfit, she had to conceal it inside a legitimate operational expense.
Julian accessed the internal corporate backup using his personal root administrator key. His eyes scanned hundreds of shipping manifests, vendor payments, and shell invoices from the past six months.
Then, he found it.
Hidden inside the maritime insurance line items was a recurring payment to *Kestrel Holdings*—a company registered under the maiden name of Evelyn’s private attorney and long-time confidant, Arthur Vance-Sterling.
Julian’s breath hitched. Arthur was Julian’s second cousin and the chief legal counsel of Vance Logistics. Evelyn hadn't acted alone; she had bought the legal backbone of the entire corporation.
Worse, Julian found a draft of a forged last will and testament scheduled to be registered the moment Julian’s death was officially confirmed by authorities. The document stripped all guardianship rights from Julian’s side of the family, placing Lily under the sole legal control of an offshore trust managed entirely by Arthur and Evelyn.
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Julian didn’t just have a threat on his life; he had uncovered a cold-blooded conspiracy to erase him and turn his daughter into a captive heiress for corporate plunder.
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