Chapter 11 - The Collapse of Vanguard Group
Richard Vance tried to intervene as the officers escorted his daughter away.
“You can’t do this!” Richard yelled, his face turning crimson.
“I will file an emergency injunction! I will buy every billboard in this state!”
“You won’t buy a cup of coffee by five o'clock, Richard,” Eleanor said coldly.
She pulled out her personal tablet and displayed a press release from the State Department of Revenue.
At 12:30 PM, twenty minutes after Eleanor arrived, state regulators had executed a total asset freeze on Vanguard Land Group.
Trading on their commercial bonds had been suspended on Wall Street pending a federal grand jury indictment.
Three of Richard’s primary board members had already resigned via public statements on Bloomberg News.
Richard stared at the tablet screen, his breath coming in shallow, ragged gasps.
“You planned this,” Richard whispered, trembling.
“You knew about the land deal from the start.”
“Emily didn’t come to Oakridge to hide, Richard,” Eleanor revealed with a cold, triumphant smile.
“She came here as an investigator for the State Department of Education’s Oversight Commission.”
“She volunteered to go undercover because we knew Oakridge was laundering zoning kickbacks for your firm.”
“You walked right into every trap she set.”
“And the moment your daughter laid hands on my child, you gave us the physical evidence of harassment we needed to pierce your corporate liability veil.”
Richard collapsed into an empty dining chair, his hands buried in his face.
His fortune, his family name, his daughter’s Ivy League future—everything had burned to the ground in half an hour.
State Troopers walked up beside him, tapping his shoulder.
“Richard Vance, you have the right to remain silent.”
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The cuffs locked around his wrists with a sickening snap.
The mighty titan of Vanguard Land Group was led out behind his crying daughter in full view of the student body.
