The Marshals moved with swift, practiced efficiency. Before Arthur could even fully process what was happening, his hands were behind his back, cold steel cuffs clicking into place. His face, already pale, went ashen.
“Wait! What? This is a mistake!” Arthur stammered, his voice cracking with genuine panic. “You don’t understand! It was a mock trial! It was staged!”
A female DOJ agent, clipboard in hand, stepped forward. “Mr. Danforth, the evidence collected from your firm’s internal servers during this ‘mock trial’ simulation has provided the Department of Justice with the final, irrefutable link to your activities. We have been investigating your firm for months, specifically regarding the Delacourt acquisition and suspected financial irregularities.”
My eyes darted between Arthur, the Marshals, and the agent. The Delacourt acquisition. The $45 million liability. The texts about “liability transference.” It clicked, with a terrifying certainty.
Arthur struggled against the Marshals, his gaze desperate as he locked onto me.
“Maya! No! Don’t let them—” he choked out. “I did it for you! The shares! Your mother’s shares!”
He lunged forward, but the Marshals held him firm.
“Your mother’s shares in the firm,” he gasped, his eyes wide and pleading. “They made you a co-signatory. I had to create a clean break. I had to fail! They would have tied you to it, Maya! Tied you to everything!”
He was trying to shield me. Not from public humiliation, but from legal culpability. My flawless run, my meticulous exposure of his deliberate blunders—it hadn’t just proven *his* fraud; it had proven *my* perfect oversight.
The agent calmly tapped her clipboard. “Indeed, Mr. Danforth. Your daughter’s perfectly maintained records of your intentional dereliction of duty have unfortunately sealed her position. She is, as of this moment, officially recognized as an active co-signatory with comprehensive oversight capabilities within Danforth & Holbrook LLP.”
Arthur sagged, utterly defeated. His plan to protect me had backfired spectacularly, thanks to my own relentless pursuit of the truth. My perfect victory had just landed me in the crosshairs.
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