Chapter 2 - The Fraud Clause
The sound of approaching sirens rose over the tree line, a high-pitched wail cutting through the quiet morning air of our rural neighborhood.
Inside the foyer, Charles stood frozen, staring at his phone as if it were a live rattlesnake. He pressed the phone to his ear, his fingers trembling slightly.
"Hello?" Charles said, his voice cracking. "This is Charles Baldwin... Yes, I am the managing director of Baldwin Logistics... What do you mean?"
He listened for three seconds before his eyes widened in sheer horror.
"No! That’s impossible! I submitted the authorization form yesterday! My daughter signed—" He cut himself off, glancing nervously toward the open front door where I was still lying on the cold wood. "Listen to me, there has been a administrative misunderstanding—"
The voice on the other end of the line was loud enough that I could hear the sharp, clipped tone of a senior corporate investigator, though I couldn't make out the exact words.
Courtney stepped toward him, her eyebrows drawn together in confusion. "Charles? What’s wrong? Why are you pale?"
"Shut up!" Charles barked at her, waving his hand frantically. He pressed the phone tighter against his head. "Mr. Vance, listen to me! The estate assets need to be stabilized! My son-in-law died three weeks ago, and the company cannot operate without liquidity!"
"Mr. Baldwin," Samantha’s voice came through my own phone, clear and deadly. "I am merging our call with the bank’s security team. Stay on the line."
A second later, a click sounded, and a stern male voice echoed through my speaker. "Mr. Baldwin, this is Marcus Thorne, Chief Security Officer for Manhattan National Trust. We have flagged your attempted transfer of four point two million dollars from the Gallagher Family Trust as an unauthorized fraudulent transaction."
"It wasn't unauthorized!" Charles yelled, stepping out onto the porch, his eyes wild with panic as he looked down at me. "My daughter is right here! Victoria, tell them! Tell them you gave me permission!"
I pulled the phone close to my mouth, my breathing heavy, tears drying on my skin. "I gave you nothing, Charles. You dragged me out of my house. You hit me."
"You lying little bitch!" Charles screamed, taking a furious step toward me.
Before his boot could touch the porch steps, two white-and-black Sheriff’s cruisers tore up the gravel driveway, their blue and red lights flashing violently against the autumn trees. Tires screeched to a halt on the wet pavement.
Four deputies slammed their doors open, drawing their sidearms in one fluid movement.
"Police! Step away from the lady! Hands where we can see them!" Deputy Miller shouted, his gun pointed straight at Charles’s chest.
Courtney shrieked, dropping her designer leather bag onto the foyer floor and raising her manicured hands into the air. "Don't shoot! I didn't do anything! I’m just his wife!"
Charles froze, his arm raised, his face twisted in a ugly mixture of rage and terror. "Do you know who I am?! I am Charles Baldwin! I own half this county!"
"Put your hands behind your back! Now!" Deputy Miller ordered, moving up the porch steps with lightning speed.
Within seconds, Charles was forced down onto his knees right beside the puddle of fluid he had forced me into moments earlier. Steel handcuffs clicked loudly around his wrists.
An ambulance pulled into the driveway right behind the police cars, its red lights bathing the front of my white house in a crimson glow. Paramedics leaped out of the back, carrying a stretcher and emergency medical bags.
"Ma'am, stay still!" a female paramedic yelled, rushing to my side. "We’ve got you. Can you tell me your name?"
"Victoria..." I choked out, as two hands lifted me gently off the hard floor. "Victoria Gallagher. My baby... please, my baby..."
"We’re taking care of you, Victoria," the paramedic said, attaching a blood pressure cuff to my arm while another placed an oxygen mask over my face.
As they lifted me onto the gurney, I turned my head.
Charles was being shoved into the back of a police cruiser, his eyes fixed on me with pure hatred. Beside him, Courtney was crying hysterically, her hands cuffed behind her back as a deputy led her away for criminal trespass and obstruction.
May you like
Samantha’s voice spoke one last time through my phone speaker before the paramedic secured my belongings.
"Victoria, go to the hospital," Samantha said firmly. "Focus on bringing Lucas’s child into this world. I will handle the rest. By the time you wake up tomorrow, your father will realize he just signed his own arrest warrant."
