Infinite Wealth: Revenge of the Lost Heir

CHAPTER 5: BEHIND CLOSED DOORS AND A THIEF ABOVE A THIEF

Behind the tightly closed mahogany door in the private office of the main Vance family residence, the atmosphere felt much colder than the most extreme New York winter. Ryan Vance stood stiffly in front of his father's large desk with a deathly pale face. For the first time in his life, he truly felt fear choking his own throat.

Arthur Vance sat calmly in his black leather chair. The old man was not angry, did not shout, and did not even slam anything on the table. However, it was precisely that cold calmness that made Ryan feel the oxygen supply in the room thinning, making it difficult for him to breathe.

"Do you think I'm stupid, Ryan?" Arthur finally asked, breaking the silence with a low, intimidating voice.

Ryan swallowed hard. "Father, someone hacked our company's system. I'm a victim here, too."

Arthur raised one eyebrow, looking at his son with an assessing gaze. "A victim?" His tone was flat, yet Ryan felt as if he were being judged in the cruelest court. "Do you think I don't know you've been sleeping with Amber Miller since Julian was still alive?"

Ryan's body instantly froze. All his joints suddenly went limp. "Father..."

"Of course I know." Arthur leaned back into his leather chair casually. "In case you didn't know, I let it all happen."

Ryan raised his head slowly, his face filled with immense shock. "What?"

"Amber is a woman easily controlled by her own greed. Such a woman is very useful," Arthur said while tapping the wooden desk with a constant rhythm. "But today, you let someone play you and strip away your disgrace in front of all the big-fish investors of New York."

Ryan clenched his fists tightly, holding back the shame and anger surging within him. "I swear I will find out who the culprit is, Father."

"I don't care who the culprit is." Arthur's gaze suddenly turned as sharp as an eagle's, locking onto Ryan's movements. "I only care about results. And today's result is a total failure."

Ryan felt a thick chill running down his spine. Before he could defend himself again, Arthur continued his command mercilessly. "Starting today, revoke all of Amber's access to company facilities. No company credit cards, no account access, and no involvement in any projects."

"But Father—"

"If she cannot prove herself useful after this scandal, then she is no longer of value," Arthur cut in coldly. Ryan was instantly silenced. He knew his father's character very well; Arthur Vance never joked with his words.

While the storm struck the Vance residence, a deadly calm enveloped the lower district of New York. Julian sat alone in front of Chloe's old laptop. The blue light from the monitor illuminated his stiff, ice-cold face.

After obtaining full access to Amber Miller's personal account from the System, Julian began to trace every track of the woman's financial transactions. At first, he only wanted to find evidence of ordinary embezzlement that could be used as a weapon. However, the deeper he dug into the encrypted data, the more interesting what he found became.

"Hm..." A thin smile—full of cynical satisfaction—appeared on Julian's face.

Amber, it turned out, hadn't just betrayed him. The snake-woman had also betrayed the Vance family who were her allies. For months, Amber had secretly transferred large amounts of corporate funds to various intermediary accounts, before finally ending up in a secret overseas account in Switzerland. Those shadow funds were more than enough to let her run away and live in luxury for the rest of her life.

"So, you never even trusted Ryan," Julian shook his head slowly, looking at the string of numbers on the screen with a condescending gaze. "Very interesting."

It turned out that the law of the jungle applied among traitors: they betrayed each other from behind as well.

In the afternoon, the five-star restaurant owned by the Vance Group in the Midtown area began to be crowded with customers from the elite circle. Chloe was busy delivering food orders to one of the tables when the sound of high heels clacking loudly stopped her movement.

Amber Miller arrived. The woman's face looked much more disheveled and worse than usual due to the pressure of the scandal that was starting to leak. However, the pathological arrogance in her eyes had not yet completely disappeared.

"Heh." Amber stood blocking the path, looking Chloe up and down with a condescending gaze. "So you still work in this place."

Chloe took a long breath, trying to maintain her professionalism in front of the customers. "Amber, please. I'm working."

"I don't care," Amber retorted sharply. With a deliberate movement, she took a glass of red wine from an empty table nearby, then dropped it right in front of Chloe's feet.

CRASH!

The glass shattered into pieces, and the thick red liquid spread everywhere, dirtying the marble floor and the tips of Chloe's shoes. "Clean it up," Amber ordered with an arrogant tone.

Chloe clenched her fists behind her work apron, holding back the surge of emotions. "Amber."

"I said clean it up!" Amber snapped louder.

Several customers around them began to notice the commotion and whispered. However, not a single manager or staff dared to intervene. They all knew who Amber Miller was; the future daughter-in-law of the Vance family who held absolute power over this restaurant.

Amber smiled with satisfaction seeing Chloe who just stood silent, holding back the pain in her heart. She thoroughly enjoyed the moment—enjoying the feeling of superiority while trampling on someone she considered weaker than herself.

However, just as Amber was about to launch a new insult, the phone in her bag rang loudly. Amber frowned when she saw her phone screen displaying an unknown international number with a Swiss country code. Her heart suddenly beat faster, triggering a bad premonition.

"What is it?" she asked quickly after sliding the accept button.

A formal and ice-cold voice was heard from the other end of the phone line. "Ms. Amber Miller?"

"Yes, this is me."

"We are contacting you regarding suspicious transaction activities on several international accounts connected to your legal identity."

The flush on Amber's face instantly vanished. "What... what do you mean?"

"We found a number of large-scale transactions indicated as money laundering, and they are currently in the process of investigation by international financial regulators."

Amber instantly turned deathly pale like a corpse, her voice trembling. "That's impossible! You must have checked the data wrong!"

"For the time being, all assets in those accounts will be restricted and frozen until the verification process is complete. Good afternoon."

The call ended unilaterally. Amber froze where she stood, with her body suddenly feeling ice-cold. Those funds in Switzerland were her backup plan. Those funds were her escape ticket if the Vance family cast her aside one day. And now, all that money was in great danger. For the first time since the conspiracy to murder Julian, Amber truly felt a real fear of losing everything.

Meanwhile, a few kilometers from there, Julian stared at his laptop screen with a flat expression without a ripple. Just a few minutes ago, he had sent all the evidence of Amber's illegal transactions to an international financial supervisory agency through the System's protected anonymous network.

Julian did not need to go through the trouble of stealing Amber's money. He only needed to feed that woman to the legal authorities. Because for Julian, the person most easily destroyed is not the poor, but the rich who live in acute fear of losing all their wealth.

Julian closed his laptop slowly. Before his eyes, the transparent blue panel belonging to the System appeared again with a calming glow.

[Notification: Side Mission Complete.]

[Target Amber Miller has successfully experienced financial loss and severe psychological pressure.]

[Reward Granted: Ownership Rights to Vance Midtown Restaurant Majority Shares.]

[All Ownership Documents Have Been Transferred Legally and Anonymously.]

A thin smile—sharp and triumphant—appeared at the corner of Julian's lips. The restaurant where Chloe worked, the place where Amber had just caused a scene, had now officially fallen into his grasp. And Amber herself had not even realized that the world around her had begun to change hands bit by bit.

The real game had just begun.