Chapter 6 - Freezing the Assets
By 6:00 AM, the Napa estate was sealed behind yellow crime-tape. Adrian was locked inside a holding cell at the county jail, booked on felony assault with a deadly weapon, with additional charges of kidnapping and human trafficking being prepared by federal prosecutors.
I sat in a private consultation room at Queen of the Valley Medical Center with seven stitches closing the wound along my temple. Across from me sat Marcus Hayes, my personal corporate attorney and the most ruthless asset-protection specialist in Northern California.
Marcus opened a sleek leather folder, setting down an array of financial documents on the small hospital table.
"Claire, we have a forty-eight-hour window before Charles Vance's legal team can untangle their liquidity," Marcus said, his voice razor-sharp. "Because Adrian signed the joint authorization papers for your commercial ventures last year, he inadvertently gave your LLC reciprocal oversight on all their cross-collateralized holdings."
"Which means?" I asked, sipping black coffee that burned my throat.
"Which means, because he is being charged with a violent felony against you, we can execute an emergency court injunction under the California Domestic Violence Protection Act to immediately freeze every single joint banking account, investment fund, and property title tied to his name."
I looked out the hospital window as the morning sun hit the mountain ridges. "Do it. Freeze every penny."
"What about Eleanor's properties?" Marcus asked, a faint, predatory smirk touching his lips.
"Eleanor put Adrian as the primary co-owner on two of her Carmel beach estates and the family vineyard to avoid state estate taxes," I replied, remembering the endless boastful dinners where she bragged about her tax loopholes. "Attach our emergency lien to every single parcel. I want her waking up to discover she doesn't even have access to a debit card to buy a carton of milk."
Marcus tapped his fountain pen against the paperwork. "And the Swiss facility where they're holding Rebecca Thorne?"
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I looked at my attorney with unyielding resolve. "Call the federal authorities and the international human rights division. We are flying a legal extraction team to Zurich today. We are bringing Rebecca home."
Marcus stood up and buttoned his suit jacket. "Consider the Vance family bankrupt by noon."
