Chapter 6 - Uncovering the Paper Trail
By 4:30 PM, the forensic accounting team in the sixty-eighth-floor boardroom had cracked through the encrypted layers of Shiaoza’s secondary financial servers.
The sheer scale of the deception was breathtaking.
For five years, while I was negotiating high-stakes infrastructure deals in Frankfurt and Tokyo, surviving on four hours of sleep in foreign hotel suites, Shiaoza had been running a parallel shadow empire dedicated entirely to funding a life of sickening excess for himself and Jang Chin Tong.
Victoria Sterling laid three glossy color portfolios across my desk.
“Here is the real estate breakdown, Chairwoman,” Victoria said, her sharp legal mind operating with clinical precision. “Property A: A four-story oceanfront villa in Miami, purchased fourteen months ago for eight point two million dollars under Tong-Vane Real Estate Holdings LLC. He actually had the audacity to use part of your maiden name in the shell entity to avoid secondary bank compliance flags.”
I stared at the high-resolution photograph of the sun-drenched Florida mansion. An infinity pool overlooking the Atlantic, a private yacht slip, and marble terraces.
“Property B,” Victoria continued, turning the page. “A penthouse at the St. Regis, leased through our corporate executive relocation budget at forty-five thousand dollars per month, occupied exclusively by Secretary Jang. And Property C: A countryside equestrian estate in Virginia, deeded directly to Beatrice Shiao under the guise of an 'Executive Wellness Retreat.'”
I let out a soft, freezing chuckle.
Beatrice had spent years complaining that my business trips left her son lonely and neglected, all while quietly accepting title deeds to multi-million-dollar equestrian estates funded entirely by my corporate capital.
“What about the physical assets?” I asked.
“We’ve traced six vehicles,” Victoria answered. “Two Aston Martins, a custom pink Bentley Continental GT registered directly to Jang Chin Tong, and three Range Rovers. Furthermore, we obtained the private vault records from the Diamond District. Over the last twenty-four months, Shiaoza authorized thirty-eight separate purchases of high-jewelry pieces totaling six point four million dollars.”
Victoria opened the third portfolio, revealing copies of custom jewelry receipts from Cartier, Harry Winston, and Van Cleef & Arpels.
“Did any of these pieces reach his mother?” I inquired.
“Only the lower-tier items—custom brooches and gold bangles valued between twenty and fifty thousand dollars,” Victoria replied with a grim smirk. “The high-jewelry masterworks—the seven-carat emerald-cut diamond ring, the Burmese ruby necklace, and the limited-edition white Patek Philippe—were all delivered directly to Secretary Jang’s desk.”
I closed the portfolio and stood up, walking over to the floor-to-ceiling windows. Outside, the early evening sun was beginning to dip below the skyline, casting long, bloody-red shadows across the bustling streets below.
In less than two hours, Beatrice Shiao’s seventieth jubilee banquet would commence at the Grand Imperial Hotel. Two hundred of the most powerful political figures, industrial tycoons, and high-society socialites in the state would be gathered in the grand ballroom.
They were expecting a lavish spectacle celebrating the reign of the Shiao dynasty.
They were about to witness its total, irreversible annihilation.
“Victoria,” I said without turning around.
“Yes, Chairwoman?”
“Contact the head of security at the Grand Imperial Hotel. Inform him that the executive security detail for Vane-Shiao Global will be managing access to the grand ballroom tonight. No local private guards hired by Shiaoza or his mother are to be permitted inside the perimeter.”
“Understood.”
“And Victoria?”
“Yes?”
“Have the private process servers and the county sheriff’s deputies staged in the hotel’s VIP reception lounge by 6:45 PM. Make sure every writ of asset attachment, every civil seizure order, and every criminal referral is stamped and ready for formal delivery.”
May you like
Victoria’s eyes sparkled with fierce, professional satisfaction. “Everything will be executed with absolute precision, Chairwoman.”
“Good,” I said, turning away from the window. “It’s time for me to get dressed. After all, Mother-in-law explicitly instructed me to look appropriate for the society photographers.”
