Part 30
The investigation took less than forty-eight hours, thanks to our newly acquired satellite tracking systems.
Marcus walked into my office just after dusk, closing the heavy double doors behind him with a distinct click.
"The funds used to buy Thomas's old debts originated from a private trust based in Singapore," Marcus said, activating the wall monitor.
The screen displayed a corporate structure diagram that branched out into dozens of offshore entities, all leading back to a single name at the top.
Julian Vance.
I stared at the name, a cold sensation washing over my skin.
Thomas's older brother.
Unlike Thomas, who was a loud, arrogant grifter, Julian was a ghost in the financial world.
He was a brilliant, reclusive hedge fund manager who had severed ties with Thomas over a decade ago, disgusted by his brother's lack of sophistication.
Julian operated in the high-stakes world of sovereign debt speculation, shorting entire national currencies for profit.
"Julian never cared about Thomas," I murmured, my mind racing through the implications. "Why would he be buying his debts now?"
"He doesn't care about Thomas," Marcus agreed, tapping the screen to bring up a list of assets.
"He cares about the proprietary encryption codes that Thomas used to access the Vale Trust during his initial identity theft."
"When Thomas copied your father's digital signature, he embedded a master key into the dark-web ledger to secure his shadow accounts."
"Thomas was too stupid to realize what he actually had, but Julian isn't."
"If Julian reconstructs that ledger, he won't just have access to Thomas's old stolen funds—he'll have a backdoor into our entire global logistics operating system."
A dangerous smile touched my lips. Julian Vance thought he was a ghost, pulling strings from a penthouse in Singapore.
He thought he could slip into my network while I was busy celebrating my victories.
"He thinks he's the smart brother," I said, standing up and walking toward the desk.
"Let's show him what happens when you try to steal from the Vale family twice."
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"Marcus, feed him the final pieces of the ledger he's looking for."
"Give him the backdoor he wants. But make sure the door only opens into an interrogation room."
