Chapter 5 - The Frozen Assets
Eric lunged across the desk, his hand outstretched to swat the recorder off the table, but I snatched it up a fraction of a second too late—or rather, a fraction of a second too early, because the office door swung open behind us.
Two uniformed county sheriff’s deputies stepped into the room, flanked by Arthur Vance holding a thick leather briefcase.
“Eric Sterling?” the lead deputy asked, his hand resting casually on his utility belt.
Eric stood paralyzed, his chest heaving, sweat beading across his forehead. “This is a mistake! My wife is just having a hysterical episode—she’s unstable—”
“Mr. Sterling, you are being served with a temporary restraining order, an emergency asset-freezing injunction covering all personal and corporate accounts associated with Nebula Systems, and a criminal complaint for wire fraud, forgery, and grand larceny,” Arthur announced clearly, stepping forward to drop a heavy stack of legal papers right onto Eric’s desk.
Marcus turned pale, backing away toward the window. “I had nothing to do with the embezzlement! I was just underwriting a standard commercial loan!”
“You were underwriting a forged collateral guarantee using stolen assets, Marcus,” Arthur replied coldly, flashing his badge as a licensed court-appointed forensic examiner. “Your name is on the preliminary compliance memo.”
Eric turned to me, his eyes wide with desperate, frantic terror, his arrogant facade completely shattered. “Clara... please. We can talk about this. Don't do this to our marriage—to our family—”
“Our marriage ended this morning on the marble floor of my bathroom, Eric,” I said quietly, looking down at the man who had tried to erase my life for a corporate bailout. “And your company is about to find out what a real risk audit looks like.”
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Before Eric could speak another word, Arthur's phone buzzed in his hand. He glanced at the screen, smiled grimly, and looked up at me.
“The judge just signed the order, Clara,” Arthur said. “Every single account tied to Nebula Systems, including the primary operating fund holding your $480,000, has just been locked down by the state.”
