Chapter 5 - The Embezzlement Plot
Isabelle stared at Victor in absolute, horrified disbelief.
Her legs suddenly felt weak, and she reached out to grip the back of a heavy dining chair for support.
"Patricia stole from you?" Isabelle whispered, her voice barely audible over the crackling fire.
"From the Romano family?"
Victor nodded grimly, his expression hardening into a mask of pure, calculated ruthlessness.
"Your father’s development company held a minority stake in one of my commercial logistics firms," Victor explained.
"It was a small, legitimate partnership formed years ago."
"When your father died, Patricia took control of those shares."
He walked over to the long dining table and pushed the thick leather folder toward her.
"She didn't just collect the dividends, Isabelle."
"She used her position on the minority board to artificially inflate shipping invoices, funneling the excess cash into offshore accounts."
"She stole nearly four million dollars over the last three years."
Isabelle felt physically sick.
Patricia’s reckless spending, the designer dresses for Vanessa and Clare, the extravagant parties—it was all funded by stealing from a man who could destroy them with a single phone call.
"I didn't know," Isabelle pleaded desperately, terrified that Victor thought she was complicit in the theft.
"I only managed the household budget."
"Patricia never let me see the corporate accounts or the partnership ledgers."
Victor’s cold gray eyes studied her face intently, searching for a lie.
He found only genuine terror and exhaustion.
"I know you didn't," Victor said softly, stepping closer to her.
"My forensic accountants confirmed that your initials, I.M., only appeared on the household documents where you were desperately trying to stop the bleeding."
"The corporate fraud was signed entirely by Patricia and her private banker."
Isabelle let out a shaky breath, the immediate threat to her own life slightly diminished.
"What are you going to do?" she asked nervously.
Victor turned away, looking out the massive windows at the falling snow.
"In the old days, a theft like this would have been handled quietly and violently," Victor admitted without hesitation.
"But I have spent a decade dragging my family’s name into the legitimate light."
"I am going to destroy Patricia Morgan legally."
"I am going to freeze every asset she has, seize the estate, and see her prosecuted for corporate fraud."
He looked back at Isabelle, his gaze intensely focused.
"But to do that swiftly, without dragging my own company into a lengthy public scandal, I need inside access to her private banking records."
"Records that are currently locked in a safe inside your father's old study."
Isabelle immediately understood what he was asking.
"You want me to go back to the house," she realized, her heart sinking.
"You want me to steal the records for you."
Victor shook his head slowly.
"I don't want you to steal them."
"I want you to walk through the front door as my fiancée and legally demand them."
Before Isabelle could process the shocking proposal, Victor’s head of security burst into the dining room.
The large man looked incredibly tense.
"Boss, we have a massive problem," the security chief reported urgently.
"Patricia Morgan didn't wait for us to make a move."
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"She just held a press conference outside her home."
"She accused you of kidnapping her stepdaughter."
