Chapter 4 - The Corporate and Financial Dismantlement
While I rested in the secure sanctuary of the hospital suite, Julian’s elite team of forensic accountants, corporate litigators, and private investigators went to work with terrifying efficiency.
Garrick thought he was a titan of industry. As the senior vice president of acquisitions for Apex Capital Solutions, a mid-sized financial firm in downtown Houston, he was accustomed to crushing competitors and riding roughshod over subordinates. He believed his position was secure, his salary untouchable, and his social standing permanent.
He had no idea who my brother was.
Julian wasn't just a successful tech entrepreneur; he was the majority shareholder of several venture capital firms that held massive, controlling stakes in the very financial institutions where Garrick worked. Furthermore, Julian’s legal team had spent the last forty-eight hours unearthing a treasure trove of financial corruption that Garrick had spent years hiding.
On a rainy Tuesday morning, three days after my rescue, Julian sat beside my hospital bed with a thick leather binder opened across his knees.
"Look at this, Audrey," Julian said, tapping a finger against a series of complex wire transfer logs. "Garrick’s department has been systematically skimming client acquisition fees from minor accounts—small businesses owned by working-class families—and funneling them into an offshore shell company registered under a fake name. And guess who the primary beneficiary of that shell company is?"
I blinked, staring at the name on the document. "Miriam."
"Bingo," Julian smirked, his eyes flashing with triumph. "Mommy dearest has been living off embezzled corporate funds for years, supplementing her extravagant church donations and country club dues with stolen money. And Garrick signed off on every single transaction using his company credentials."
"Can we prove it?" I asked, propping myself up slightly on the pillows.
"Prove it?" Julian laughed softly. "Audrey, I didn't just prove it; I uploaded the entire forensic audit directly to the personal email of Apex Capital’s CEO, along with the federal SEC compliance officers and the Harris County District Attorney's office. At precisely nine o'clock this morning, federal marshals walked into Garrick’s office on the forty-second floor, seized his company-issued electronics, and escorted him out of the building in handcuffs."
My breath hitched. "Handcuffs?"
"Oh, it gets better," Julian continued, flipping the page. "Remember that broken security gate at their estate? The one I smashed through with my Mercedes? Garrick filed an insurance claim yesterday morning claiming a 'hit-and-run driver' vandalized his property, attempting to commit insurance fraud to cover the repair costs. My security team captured high-definition dashcam footage of him manually swinging the gate off its hinges with a sledgehammer an hour after we left, trying to frame me for property destruction."
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Julian tossed the binder onto the bedside table and leaned back, crossing his arms.
"Insurance fraud, corporate embezzlement, tax evasion, and accessory to medical endangerment. By the time my legal team is finished with them, Garrick and Miriam won't just be broke—they'll be wearing matching orange jumpsuits."
