Chapter 2 - THE BOSS BEHIND THE CURTAIN
By 10:00 PM, the Silver Creek police station was a whirlwind of activity.
Clara’s body had been transported to the county coroner’s office for an immediate, mandatory forensic autopsy, overriding Aunt Beatrice’s rapid-burial permits. Lily was safely tucked into a private room at the station under the care of a county social worker, clutching her new doll while her father answered questions in an interrogation room down the hall.
Alex sat across a metal table from Detective Vance—no relation to the corporate billionaire, but a local investigator who knew the undercurrents of the township all too well.
“The legal document you found in your father’s cushion,” Detective Vance said, sliding a certified copy across the table. “It’s a forced property transfer deed. It signs over your family home and the surrounding land to Vance Global Transport’s executive development subsidiary. Furthermore, the bank routing numbers trace back to a private holding account.”
Alex stared at the paper, his mind racing. “Vance Global? That’s my employer. That’s Mr. Vance’s company.”
“Victor Vance doesn't just run logistics operations in Ohio, Alex,” the detective said grimly, leaning forward. “His real estate arm has been buying up rural townships for industrial expansion for the past five years. If landowners refuse to sell, his subsidiaries find other ways to clear the titles. Clara inherited this land from her grandfather. She was the final holdout blocking their multi-million dollar distribution hub.”
A cold realization washed over Alex, freezing the blood in his veins.
The three-day high-security logistics assignment that had pulled him away from home with zero cell reception—the one orchestrated directly by corporate headquarters under the guise of an emergency security protocol?
It wasn't an assignment. It was an alibi.
Mr. Vance had deliberately shipped Alex three hundred miles away into a dead zone so he wouldn't be home when they forced Clara to sign away her land. And when she fought back, things had gone terribly wrong.
“My mother and my brother,” Alex whispered, the pieces clicking together with agonizing clarity. “They were working for him. They traded Clara’s life—or helped orchestrate her murder—for a payout from Vance.”
“Your mother’s bank accounts show a fifty-thousand-dollar wire transfer cleared yesterday morning,” Detective Vance confirmed. “Labeled as a ‘consulting bonus’ from Vance Global.”
Alex stood up so abruptly that his metal chair scraped violently against the linoleum floor. The grief he had felt hours ago had completely evaporated, incinerated by an all-consuming, righteous fury. They had murdered his wife. They had terrified his six-year-old daughter. And the man who signed his weekly paycheck, the man he had respected and served loyally for five years, was the architect of the nightmare.
“Where is Victor Vance right now?” Alex asked, his voice dead flat.
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“His private jet landed at the county airstrip an hour ago,” Detective Vance said cautiously. “He’s holding an emergency board meeting at the regional headquarters in downtown Columbus tonight. Alex... you can’t just walk in there. He has a private security army.”
“Watch me,” Alex said, turning toward the door.
