Back at the St. Regis ballroom, the staff was frantically sweeping up thousands of shattered glass flutes.
Victoria stood near the damaged stage, her face red with embarrassment as guests made their hurried exits.
Victoria: Look at this mess! She ruined my entire gala! Everyone is talking about us!
Ethan: Relax, Mother! She’s just a dramatic, bruised woman with no power!
Victoria: She kicked over the champagne tower in front of the mayor and the district attorney, Ethan!
Ethan: So what? We have all the money, and we have all the legal control over her father’s estate!
Victoria: Are you sure she didn't take any physical copies of those offshore transfer receipts?
Ethan: I ripped them out of her hands before she ran out of the penthouse. She has nothing!
Victoria: What about the digital server in your office? Is the backup safe?
Ethan: The server has three encrypted firewalls. A helpless girl like Clara couldn't touch it if she tried for a hundred years.
Victoria: I don't like the way she looked at you before she walked out. She said tomorrow you'd be begging for forgiveness.
Ethan: She was just trying to scare us! Tomorrow, I’m filing a restraining order and locking her out of the family business for good!
Ethan took a large gulp from a fresh glass of wine, laughing off his mother's anxiety.
He pulled his cell phone from his pocket to call his head of corporate security.
When he unlocked the screen, a series of red flashing alerts popped up on his display.
Ethan: What the hell is this?
Victoria: What’s wrong, son? Why are you staring at your phone like that?
Ethan: My corporate email app just crashed. It says my master administrator account no longer exists.
Victoria: Try logging in again! You probably just typed the wrong password in your hurry!
Ethan: I didn't type anything wrong! The server connection is returning a four-hundred-four system wipe error!
Victoria: What does a system wipe error mean, Ethan?! Speak English!
Ethan: It means the entire cloud server was remotely formatted and erased five minutes ago!
Victoria’s wine glass slipped from her hand, crashing onto the marble floor just like the others.
Victoria: Erased?! What about our offshore accounts? What about the twenty million dollars from the trust fund?!
Ethan: I’m opening the bank portal right now... wait, it’s not letting me sign in!
Victoria: Try again! Press the button again, Ethan!
Ethan: It says my corporate tax ID number has been flagged as invalid by the central treasury department!
Victoria: Oh my God... Clara did this, didn't she?
Ethan: How could she wipe a private corporate server?! She doesn't even know the admin passwords!
Victoria: You fool! Her father owned the tech infrastructure company that built your security system!
Ethan’s face turned deathly pale as the full reality hit him like a freight train.
Ethan: No... no, that’s impossible! She wouldn't have the master access keys!
Victoria: She was his only daughter! Of course she had the master keys!
Ethan: We need to get to the penthouse office right now! We need to check the physical hard drives!
Victoria: Hurry! Get the driver! Before she does anything else to our money!
Ethan and Victoria rushed out of the ruined ballroom, ignoring the whispers of the remaining staff.
They jumped into their luxury town car, demanding the driver speed through the heavy rain.
When they finally arrived at the penthouse building, two armed police officers were standing near the elevators.
Police Officer: Mr. Ethan Vance?
Ethan: Yes, I’m Ethan Vance! What are you doing in my private residential lobby?
Police Officer: We have a court-ordered emergency asset seizure warrant signed by Judge Miller.
Victoria: An asset seizure warrant?! On whose authority?!
Police Officer: On the authority of Clara Montgomery and the state financial crimes division.