Chapter 4 - The Fall of the Vance Mansion
By 5:00 a.m., the snowstorm had reached its peak, blinding the roads and burying Lake Placid under two feet of powder.
Inside the grand drawing room of the Vance estate, Chloe Vance—Elena’s younger sister—was frantically pacing across the Persian rug, holding a crystal glass of champagne in her hand. She was twenty-two, ruthless, spoiled, and convinced that her beauty and family name made her untouchable.
“Where are Mom and Julian?” Chloe whined to her husband, a sniveling corporate lawyer named Richard who was sitting on the leather sofa, desperately refreshing his laptop screen. “They were supposed to be back from the hospital an hour ago! Did that pathetic Elias make a scene?”
“Chloe, shut up for a second!” Richard yelled, his face slick with sweat. “Something is wrong! Look at the news!”
Chloe turned her head toward the seventy-inch television mounted above the marble fireplace.
A emergency financial broadcast was airing live on CNBC:
“BREAKING NEWS: VANCE INTERNATIONAL DECLARED INSOLVENT AMID MASSIVE FRAUD INVESTIGATION. FORECLOSURE PROCEEDINGS INITIATED ON ALL ACCOUNTS AND PROPERTIES EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY. REPORTS CONFIRM INTERNATIONAL PRIVATE CONGLOMERATE 'GHOST ENTERPRISES' HAS PURCHASED 100% OF DEBT ASSETS.”
“What?” Chloe gasped, dropping her champagne glass. It shattered against the hardwood floor, spilling dark wine across the white rug. “That’s impossible! Dad’s company was worth three hundred million dollars!”
Before Richard could answer, the massive oak front doors of the mansion were blown off their heavy iron hinges with a deafening EXPLOSION.
BOOM!
Wood splinters and shattered iron latches rained down into the grand foyer. Heavy boots stomped across the marble floor as twenty men dressed in sleek, black tactical uniforms with night-vision goggles and silenced assault rifles poured into the house.
Chloe screamed, ducking behind the leather sofa. Richard threw his hands into the air, falling onto his knees, trembling like a leaf.
“ clear!” a tactical officer barked.
The armed men formed a two-column honor guard stretching from the shattered front entrance into the drawing room.
Through the snow and smoke stepping into the foyer was Victoria Vance and Julian. But they weren't walking freely. They were handcuffed behind their backs, escorted by two massive enforcers wearing black tactical vests stamped with the crowned wraith seal.
Behind them walked Marcus, the former Special Forces veteran, holding a thick, black leather binder.
And behind Marcus walked me.
I wore a tailored black wool trench coat over a dark suit, my silver cuff links catching the light of the chandelier. The quiet, humble son-in-law was dead. Standing in the center of their opulent home was the Ghost King in all his terrifying majesty.
“What is the meaning of this?!” Chloe shrieked, scrambling to her feet. “Elias?! What are you doing in our house? Who are these thugs?!”
Victoria didn't look at her daughter. She looked at the floor, her spirit completely broken, her face grey and hollow.
“Shut up, Chloe,” Julian whimpered, tears streaming down his bruised face. “Just shut up... he owns us. He owns everything...”
I stepped into the center of the drawing room, taking off my leather gloves one finger at a time, dropping them onto the mahogany coffee table.
“This house no longer belongs to the Vance family, Chloe,” I said smoothly, my voice echoing off the high ceilings. “As of four minutes ago, the deed, the land, the furniture, and every piece of art hanging on these walls have been seized by Ghost Enterprises to satisfy Vance International’s defaulted loans.”
“You can’t do that!” Richard yelled, trying to summon his legal authority. “I’m an attorney! This is an illegal seizure! We will take you to court!”
Marcus stepped forward, unhinging a heavy steel briefcase, and slammed a stack of legal documents onto the table beside my gloves.
“Every document here has been signed by the Chief Judge of the Federal District Court of New York, Mr. Lawyer,” Marcus said coldly. “The Vance family has two hours to vacate the premises before they are arrested for criminal trespass, corporate fraud, and attempted murder.”
“Attempted murder?!” Chloe gasped, her eyes going wide.
“You dragged my wife barefoot into a sub-zero storm,” I said, stepping closer to Chloe until she flinched backward. “You left her to freeze behind the greenhouse so you could steal her inheritance. Did you really think there would be no reckoning for that, little sister?”
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I turned to Marcus.
“Strip them of their luxury items,” I commanded flatly. “The coats, the jewelry, the watches, the shoes. They leave this house with only the clothes on their backs... just like they left Elena in the snow.”
