Chapter 7 - The Federal Warrant
```text
The heavy front doors swung open again.
Two uniformed officers entered first, their hands resting cautiously on their duty belts. Right behind them walked Detective Miller from the Major Crimes Division, flanked by an investigator from the state attorney general's financial fraud unit.
"Travis Vance?" Detective Miller announced, stepping over the shattered ceramic pieces. His eyes swept across the room—taking in the wooden bat on the floor, Lena’s bruised body huddled against the couch, and Travis kneeling on the floor.
Travis tried to stand up, putting on an agonized, innocent expression. "Officer! Thank God you're here! This man broke into my home and dislocated my shoulder! My wife is having a psychotic breakdown, she threw a vase at me—"
"Shut your mouth, Travis," Detective Miller cut in sharply.
He didn't pull out a notebook. He pulled out a laminated piece of paper with an official court seal.
"Travis Vance, I have a warrant for your arrest for attempted murder, felony corporate embezzlement, grand larceny, and the unlawful administration of a controlled toxic substance."
Travis froze. The blood drained from his face until his lips turned pale gray. "T-Toxic substance? What are you talking about? That's ridiculous! Who authorized this?"
"Judge Harrison signed it twenty minutes ago," the financial investigator added, holding up an evidence bag containing a duplicate hard drive. "Along with an emergency asset freeze on all thirty-two of your offshore shell accounts in the Cayman Islands."
Travis gasped, stumbling backward until his spine hit the edge of the fireplace mantle. "No... no, that's impossible. Those accounts are completely anonymous! Nobody has the private ledger keys!"
"Nobody," Derek said quietly, stepping beside Lena and gently wrapping his warm jacket over her trembling shoulders, "except the person who coded the security firewall for Vance Holdings seven years ago."
Travis slowly turned his head toward Derek in horror.
👉 What was Uncle Derek’s real identity before he joined private security?
May you like
```
***
