Chapter 4 - The House of Cards
Julian’s "tech startup" was supposed to be the next big app in fintech. In reality, it was a vanity project funded entirely by his mother’s money. When the FBI raided his sleek, glass-walled office in downtown, they didn't just find the software used to forge Sarah’s signature. They found a catastrophe.
I sat in the federal building’s observation room with Hayes later that week, looking at the preliminary audit of Julian’s company.
“He’s broke, Clara,” Hayes pointed at the ledger. “The startup has been hemorrhaging money for two years. Victoria has been bailing him out, but her own liquid assets are tied up in bad commercial real estate. They were drowning.”
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“So Sarah’s trust was the life raft,” I deduced, the pieces snapping together. “Victoria needed the $2.5 million estate not just for ego, but to flip it or borrow against it to save her own empire. They were going to drain Sarah dry and leave her holding the bag.”
Meanwhile, the Sterling PR machine was breaking down. As rumors of the FBI raid leaked to the press, the same Facebook friends who had sent "prayers" to Julian were suddenly deleting their comments. Victoria’s country club suspended her membership pending the investigation. The rats were smelling the smoke.
