Chapter 3 - The Shadow Company
The revelation hit me like a physical blow to the chest.
Thomas had been a good, honest man who worked tirelessly to provide for our family.
I could not fathom why Vanessa would hire a shady investigator to look into a man who had been dead for years.
Harold paced the length of the study, his cane clicking rhythmically against the hardwood floor.
He instructed Marcus to dig deeper into Daniel's business records and real estate holdings.
We spent the entire evening analyzing spreadsheets and legal documents that Marcus managed to pull from public records.
The story those numbers told was far worse than simply kicking an old woman out of her home.
The money I gave Daniel from the sale of my apartment was supposed to be invested in a local commercial property.
Instead, the funds had been funneled through a series of shell companies to hide their true destination.
Daniel’s business was completely bankrupt, drowning in a sea of unpaid loans and broken contracts.
He had used my life savings to cover his massive, reckless gambling debts.
Harold placed a comforting hand on my shoulder as the devastating reality sank in.
My son had not just evicted me; he had robbed me blind to save his own skin.
Marcus pulled up the registration document for the final shell company that held the remaining funds.
The company was not registered in Daniel's name or Vanessa's name.
The CEO of the shadow corporation was a man named Victor Vance.
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Harold went completely pale when he read the name on the screen.
Victor Vance was the ruthless loan shark who had tried to destroy Harold and Thomas's first hotel venture thirty years ago.
