Chapter 7 - The Embezzlement Trap
The news of Eric Brooks’ arrest sent shockwaves through the Los Angeles legal community. By Monday morning, his high-powered law firm, Vance & Associates, scrubbed his profile from their website.
Maya and I spent the next three days sitting at my dining room table—which my mother and I had repurchased along with essential furniture—surrounded by stacks of financial ledgers recovered from the small closet safe.
“Look at this, Nat,” Maya said, tracing a finger down a printed ledger from Eric’s corporate firm. “Eric wasn't just stealing your inheritance. He was embezzling client funds from his own law firm to finance Brooks & Hayes Holdings.”
I leaned closer, looking at the account numbers. “How much did he take?”
“Over 1.8 million dollars over the last eighteen months,” Maya said, shaking her head in amazement. “He was using your father’s inheritance trust as collateral to cover the missing money during annual firm audits. When you got pregnant, he knew the trust would disburse. He needed Sophie’s legal custody to trigger the release of funds before the firm’s partners realized the money was gone.”
Everything clicked into place. The urgency, the fake scrubs, the desperate attempt to declare me insane—Eric wasn't just greedy. He was facing thirty years in federal prison if the firm’s quarterly audit completed at the end of this month without the trust funds replacing his theft.
“He was running against the clock,” I whispered.
“And the clock just ran out,” Maya said, snapping her laptop shut. “The firm’s managing partner, Marcus Vance, just called my office. He wants an emergency meeting with us today. He has no idea his junior partner was stealing from him.”
At 2:00 PM, Maya and I walked into the corner office of Vance & Associates on the top floor of a Century City glass tower. Marcus Vance—the founder of the firm and the older brother of Eric’s defense attorney—sat behind a massive mahogany desk, looking visibly shaken.
“Mrs. Brooks,” Marcus said, standing up immediately to offer his hand. “I cannot express how deeply sorry I am for the nightmare my former partner has put you through.”
“Thank you, Mr. Vance,” I said, taking a seat opposite him. “I believe you’ll want to look at these.”
Maya set a thick red folder on his desk.
Marcus opened it, scanning the internal wire transfer records, the shell company documents, and the forged authorization signatures. As he read, the color completely drained from his face.
“He stole from our escrow accounts,” Marcus whispered, his voice trembling with rage. “He used firm funds to buy a residential property in Malibu.”
“He used your firm’s reputation to commit corporate fraud and felony child abduction,” Maya added sharply. “And if this hits the press before you take action, Vance & Associates will be ruined.”
Marcus closed the folder, pressing his hands together. “What do you want, Mrs. Brooks?”
I leaned forward, looking Marcus straight in the eye.
“I want Eric’s equity stake in this firm frozen and turned over to satisfy the stolen inheritance funds,” I said calmly. “I want full cooperation from your legal team in the criminal prosecution of Eric Brooks and Lauren Hayes. And I want a public statement from this firm condemning their actions entirely.”
Marcus didn't hesitate for a single second.
“Done,” Marcus declared, reaching for his desk phone. “I’m calling the United States Attorney’s office right now. We are filing federal wire fraud charges against Eric Brooks before the end of the day.”
May you like
I looked out the floor-to-ceiling window at the city below. Eric had spent six years trying to play me like a chess piece in his grand design.
Now, every single piece he had set up was turning against him.
