My father sat opposite me, speaking with our legal counsel on a secure call.
He had already arranged for copies of the apartment footage to be preserved and delivered to investigators.
The police were examining the break-in.
And a separate investigation into Vantage Labs was already further along than I realized.
When my father ended his call, he opened the folder again.
“Amelia, we’ve been reviewing irregular transactions involving Derek’s company for several weeks.”
I looked up.
“What kind of irregular transactions?”
He passed me a summary prepared by our accounting team.
At first, I saw familiar company names.
Contractors.
Consultants.
Software suppliers.
Then I began noticing repeated invoice numbers, unusual payment descriptions, and transfers to companies I had never heard of.
Several were registered overseas.
Others appeared to exist only on paper.
My father spoke carefully.
“We’ve traced more than six million dollars in suspicious transactions. The evidence suggests Derek approved payments for services that were never provided.”
