Chapter 5 - The Locked Office
Julian ran out of his office before Naomi finished reading the message.
"Call hospital security," he snapped. "Now."
The drive back to Northwestern felt endless.
Every red light became an insult.
Every slow car became an enemy.
When he reached Victoria's floor, two security officers were already outside her room.
She was awake.
Angry.
"I told you not to panic."
Julian crossed the room and held up the photograph.
"Someone stood inside this room while you were sleeping."
Her anger disappeared.
"What?"
The nurse checked the access log.
Four people had entered during the relevant hour.
Two nurses.
A technician.
And Dr. Martin Bell, an obstetric consultant Victoria had never met.
"Find him," Julian said.
The nurse frowned. "We don't have a Dr. Martin Bell on staff."
Naomi arrived twenty minutes later with a detective.
The fake doctor's badge had been captured on a hallway camera.
The man's face was partially hidden by a mask, but he had entered using credentials copied from a real physician.
"Professional," Naomi said.
Victoria looked at Julian.
"This isn't just your mother."
He knew she was right.
Eleanor could threaten, manipulate, and lie.
This required infrastructure.
Someone had access to corporate money, forged signatures, private medical information, and now a hospital security system.
Graham.
Or someone above him.
At midnight, the warrant on the Winnetka storage unit cleared.
Julian, Naomi, and two detectives watched officers cut the lock.
Inside were banker boxes, two encrypted laptops, and a steel filing cabinet.
The first boxes held years of Vance Industries records that should have been archived at corporate headquarters.
The second contained private reports on board members.
Affairs.
Addictions.
Debts.
Custody battles.
Eleanor had collected leverage like other people collected art.
Then Naomi opened a folder marked J.V.
Julian's name.
Inside were copies of his passport, tax returns, old medical records, and signature specimens dating back fifteen years.
"They were training a forgery model," Naomi said.
Julian looked at her.
"For what?"
She held up pages showing hundreds of variations of his signature.
Some were terrible.
Others were nearly perfect.
A detective opened another drawer.
"You need to see this."
Inside was a file marked VICTORIA STERLING VANCE.
Victoria's trust documents.
Her prenatal records.
And a draft petition asking a court to declare her temporarily incapacitated after childbirth.
Julian read the proposed guardian's name.
His mother.
Then he saw the final attachment.
A trust amendment.
If Victoria were declared incapacitated, control of her Sterling voting interest would pass temporarily to her spouse.
Julian's hands went cold.
Naomi said, "That means you."
He turned the page.
There was another document beneath it.
A resignation from Vance Industries.
May you like
Signed with his name.
Dated next Monday.
