Chapter 7 - The Signature That Wasn't His
The board meeting ended in chaos.
Graham left with security beside him, but not before Julian ordered his access disabled and every company device preserved.
Eleanor refused to answer questions about Julian's father.
"Graham is desperate," she said. "He'll say anything."
"Then tell me he's lying."
"He's lying."
Too fast.
Julian heard it.
So did Victoria through the screen.
That afternoon, Naomi brought them the first recovered files from Graham's laptop.
Most were encrypted.
One was not.
It contained a ledger.
The forty-two million was only the recent theft.
Seven years earlier, Vance Industries had transferred thirty-eight million dollars to another shell company called North Crown Holdings.
The authorizing signature belonged to Julian's father, Charles Vance.
Julian stared at it.
"He wouldn't do this."
Naomi enlarged the signature.
"Maybe he didn't."
A handwriting expert compared the signature to known samples.
It was a forgery.
Older than the current scheme.
Better executed.
Victoria sat beside Julian at the dining room table, one hand over her belly.
"Who had access back then?"
Julian already knew.
Eleanor handled family-office finances before Charles died.
Graham was controller.
Together, they had everything they needed.
Naomi flipped to a second document.
"North Crown used thirty million to buy distressed Vance debt after the 2019 downturn."
Julian frowned.
"Why steal money from the company just to buy its debt?"
Victoria answered first.
"Because whoever owns the debt controls the company when it defaults."
Julian looked at her.
Naomi nodded.
"North Crown now holds liens over the Lake Forest estate, two distribution centers, and Vance Industries' preferred shares."
Julian stood.
"My mother has been stealing from the company to buy leverage over the company."
"Not just leverage," Victoria said. "A takeover."
His phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
A man's voice said, "Mr. Vance, I was your father's attorney before he died."
Julian's chest tightened.
"Who is this?"
"Samuel Ross."
Julian remembered the name.
Ross had disappeared from Chicago months before Charles Vance's fatal car crash.
"Where are you?"
"Somewhere your mother can't reach me."
Julian looked at Victoria.
"Why are you calling now?"
Ross breathed slowly into the phone.
"Because I saw the news about Mrs. Vance's arrest."
"What do you know?"
"Your father discovered North Crown six days before he died."
Julian gripped the table.
"And?"
"And the night before the crash, he changed his will."
"To what?"
Ross hesitated.
"He removed Eleanor as executor."
A chill moved through the room.
Julian said, "Who did he name instead?"
May you like
Ross answered.
"You."
