Chapter 16 - Midnight RaidGetting into Ethan’s former penthouse was legally complicated, but Victoria managed to secure an emergency subpoena for the search of undisclosed assets related to the open civil litigation.
At 11:00 PM, flanked by Agent Miller from the Financial Crimes Division and two uniformed police officers, I stepped into the dark, dusty apartment where I had once lived with Ethan.
Walking through those rooms felt like navigating a graveyard of past mistakes. The high-end furniture was covered in plastic dust sheets, left abandoned after the bank foreclosure.
I walked straight into the master closet. Kneeling on the cold hardwood floor, I pulled out a small pocketknife from my purse and pried open the loose baseboard behind a row of empty coat hangers.
My fingers brushed against something hard and cold.
I pulled out a small, black external hard drive, sealed tightly inside a waterproof plastic bag.
"We got it," I whispered, holding it up.
Agent Miller stepped forward, carefully taking the bag. "If this hard drive contains what you say it does, Charlotte, Richard Sterling isn't just looking at civil liability. He’s looking at wire fraud, bank fraud, and obstruction of justice."
Suddenly, my phone buzzed in my pocket. It was an urgent text from Sarah:
CHARLOTTE COME TO THE SHOP NOW. RICHARD IS HERE WITH A PRIVATE SECURITY TEAM. THEY ARE CHANGING THE LOCKS.
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My blood boiled. Richard was making his final, desperate play to lock me out of my own business before the courts could intervene.
"Agent Miller," I said, turning around with sharp determination. "We need to go to downtown Columbus right now."
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