Chapter 3 - THE FIRST DOMINO
By eight o'clock the next morning, the sun rose over a misty, cold city. I was sitting in the high-rise conference room of Sterling & Associates, sipping black tea while Marcus sorted through a thick stack of court filings.
My phone rang. The caller ID displayed Mother.
I let it ring until the very last chime before answering, placing it on speakerphone so Marcus could hear.
"Nora!" Evelyn's voice shrieked through the speaker, devoid of its usual calm, condescending composure. "What did you do?!"
"Good morning, Mother," I said calmly. "Did you sleep well?"
"Don't play cute with me, you ungrateful little parasite!" she spat. "The bank just froze all three of my personal accounts! The firm's accountant called ten minutes ago saying federal auditors are sitting in our lobby with a court order! What kind of lies did you tell them?"
"I didn't tell them any lies," I replied smoothly. "I simply sent them the truth. The complete ledger from Dad's offshore trust. The audio recordings from last night where you and Celeste discussed moving two hundred thousand dollars into the offshore shell account. And, of course, the high-definition video from the nursery monitor."
Silence fell over the line—a heavy, suffocating silence.
"You... you recorded us?" Celeste's voice cut in from the background, sharp and panicked. "That's illegal! You can't use that!"
"Actually, Celeste," Marcus interrupted, stepping close to the phone, "under Washington law, recording in a room where business fraud is actively being planned under a corporate entity waives private expectation—especially when the recording equipment belongs to an estate you illegally appropriated. I suggest you both retain criminal defense attorneys immediately."
"Marcus?" Evelyn gasped, her tone suddenly shifting into desperate anger. "You're taking her side? After everything I did for my late husband's legacy?"
"You stole his legacy, Evelyn," Marcus said coldly. "You stripped Nora of her rightful share of the estate, lied to the probate court, and drained four million dollars from the charitable trust. You have two hours before the sheriff's department serves the temporary asset freeze on the house."
"You can't do this!" Evelyn screamed. "I am your mother, Nora! I gave you life!"
"And last night, you tried to take it away," I said quietly. "Enjoy the coffee table, Mother. Clean up the glass before the police arrive."
I hung up the phone before she could reply.
May you like
Marcus looked at me, raising an eyebrow. "Phase one complete. But Evelyn won't lie down and accept defeat. She still controls the physical deeds to the commercial properties, and she has wealthy friends on the city council."
"Let her call every friend she has," I said, standing up and grabbing my coat. "Because phase two isn't about her money. It's about the tech patent she stole from Dad three days before he died."
