Chapter 6 - The Unraveling of the Golden Boy
By Tuesday morning, the fallout from the frozen accounts was tearing the Manion family apart from the inside out.
I didn't have to hire a private investigator to watch the explosion; Danielle did the work for me on social media.
At nine in the morning, Danielle posted a hysterical, three-minute video on her Instagram account, standing in front of the locked, dark windows of *Le Petit Chéri*. Her eyes were swollen, her makeup smeared, and her voice shrill with victimhood. She claimed that an "unstable family member" had illegally sabotaged her female-owned small business out of jealousy and spite, begging her followers to support her legal defense fund.
The comments, however, didn't go the way she planned.
Within an hour, the commercial leasing firm representing my holding company posted a formal, public legal notice in the local business register and directly under her boutique’s business profile: the lease had been terminated due to non-payment of rent totaling $144,000 and unauthorized corporate card expenditures under audit for merchant fraud.
The comments quickly turned savage.
*Wait, so you didn't pay your rent for two years?*
*I thought your brother bought you this store?*
*Is this why my customer store credit was declined yesterday?*
By noon, Danielle had deleted the video, deleted her business page, and turned off comments across all platforms.
Meanwhile, Arthur Vance’s office was receiving frantic calls from the Manion family attorney, a tired suburban solo practitioner named Henderson, who sounded like a man who had just realized he was representing passengers on the Titanic after the ship had already split in half.
"Henderson wants a conference call," Arthur told me over the speakerphone at 1:15 p.m. "He claims Travis is willing to sign a mutual separation agreement if you restore the commercial lease on Danielle’s boutique and agree to pay off the outstanding balance on the Crestview Drive mortgages."
I laughed out loud. The sheer, breathtaking arrogance of these people was almost miraculous.
"Tell Henderson the terms are non-negotiable," I replied. "Travis surrenders all claims to every asset, vehicle, and account. He signs a complete waiver of spousal support. He signs sole legal and physical custody of Harper over to me with supervised visitation rights only after completing six months of court-monitored psychological evaluation. And he pays back the two hundred thousand dollars he withdrew from account 8802 over the last twelve months."
"And if he refuses?" Arthur asked, already knowing the answer.
"Then tomorrow morning, we submit the forensic wire-transfer audit directly to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District."
"Understood," Arthur said with a satisfied chuckle. "By the way, the process server just arrived at the Oakridge Country Club. The annual holiday luncheon is at peak capacity."
I looked at the clock on my wall. 1:45 p.m.
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"I’d love to be a fly on the wall in that dining room," I said.
***
