Brandon: Detective Vance, tell me Victoria is in a holding cell right now[cite: 1].
Detective Vance: She's at the Lew Sterrett Justice Center, Mr. Sterling. But this case just got a whole lot bigger than a domestic assault[cite: 1].
Brandon: What do you mean?
Detective Vance: When our officers secured the mansion to review the interior security cameras, we found that the entire stairwell recording system had been manually wiped twenty minutes before the fall[cite: 1].
Chloe: Wiped? But Victoria didn't go near the security office!
Detective Vance: She didn't have to. Someone else executed a remote wipe from inside your family's corporate office in downtown Dallas[cite: 1].
Brandon: Who has remote root access to my private home server besides me?
Detective Vance: Your Chief Financial Officer, Julian Mercer.
Brandon took a step back, staring at the detective in utter disbelief[cite: 1]. Julian had been his father's closest business partner for twenty-five years, the man who had guided Brandon into taking over the CEO chair after his father's death[cite: 1].
Brandon: Julian? That's impossible. Julian practically raised me and Victoria after our mother passed!
Detective Vance: Then maybe you should explain why Julian's personal bank account in the Cayman Islands received a three-million-dollar wire transfer from Victoria's offshore holding company yesterday morning.
Chloe: Oh my God... they were working together the whole time!
Detective Vance: We executed an emergency search warrant on Mr. Mercer's office two hours ago. We found bank records, forged signature stamps of your late father, and an altered copy of your father's original will.
Brandon: What did they alter in the will?
Detective Vance: The thirty-fifth birthday clause regarding your heir? It didn't exist in your father's real will, Mr. Sterling. Julian and Victoria drafted that fake document three months ago and filed it in the probate court through a dirty notary in Fort Worth.
Brandon: They fabricated the entire inheritance clause just to give Victoria a motive to claim the estate!
Detective Vance: Not just to claim it. Once Victoria took control of fifty percent of the shares, she had an agreement to vote Julian in as Executive Chairman, giving him total control over the corporate bank accounts.
Chloe: They set up the entire scene... Victoria was supposed to push me, Julian was supposed to delete the camera footage, and they were going to claim I tripped because of my pregnancy shoes!
Brandon: Where is Julian right now, Detective?
Detective Vance: Federal marshals intercepted his car at DFW International Airport twenty minutes ago as he was trying to board a private jet to Zurich[cite: 1]. He's currently in federal custody facing wire fraud, conspiracy to commit murder, and corporate embezzlement charges.
Brandon walked over to the window, looking out at the city skyline of Dallas[cite: 1]. The sun was fully up now, bright light washing over the glass skyscrapers[cite: 1].
Brandon: What about Victoria's legal team? Are they trying to post bail?
Detective Vance: The judge set her bail at ten million dollars cash bond due to the severity of the charges and the flight risk. Since her private accounts were frozen under the federal seizure order an hour ago, she can't pay a single dime. She's sitting in a state jail cell waiting for arraignment.
Brandon: Good. I want the maximum sentence for both of them, Vance[cite: 1]. No plea deals. No leniency.
Detective Vance: Given the evidence, Mr. Sterling, they're both looking at twenty to thirty years in state prison[cite: 1]. I'll keep you updated as the formal indictments are filed.
The detective nodded politely to Chloe and left the room, closing the door behind him[cite: 1].