The Heiress He Underestimated novel Chapter 170

Chapter 170 Empire Of Forgery

Frost gave a sharp nod. “Already in motion. They’ll be on a private flight to the Montana property by this evening. Isolated, secure, and the nearest town has a population of three hundred and two, most of whon are suspicious of strangers. They’ll be safe there.”

Drakonius moved to the next whiteboard, which had “FEDERAL” written at the top. “Phase two. While Cho’s story is causing panic in the boardroom and with the investors, we send the heavier artillery to a place Kieran can’t easily influence.” He picked up a thick manila folder. “This is the anonymous package for the FBI’s White–Collar Crime Division. It has the Meridian fraud, yes, but it also includes the suspicious witness payments, the pattern of ‘accidents‘ around business rivals that Detective Reeves noter and a carefully redacted hint about ‘obstruction of justice involving local law enforcement.‘ It’s a breadcrumb trail. They’ll follow it.”

“It’s a gamble,” Elera said, chewing her lip. “If the wrong person at the FBI gets it, or if Dawes gets wind of it…”

“It’s a cunning risk,” Drakonius conceded. “But the FBI prides itself on being impervious to local corruption. And a case this big, with this much potential for headlines and career advancement? Someon ambitious will grab it and run.”

The plan was set. It felt good to be on the offensive, to be the ones laying traps instead of stumbling into them. For the next forty–eight hours, the cliff house was a hive of quiet, precise activity.

Clara, with the focus of a master watchmaker, crafted the leak. She created a fake email account, used i cascade of VPNs, and wrote a story that was both compelling and meticulously supported by attached documents. She sent it from a public Wi–Fi at a crowded coffee shop thirty miles away, just to be extra The subject line was simple: Meridian Holdings: A House of Cards Built with Stolen Money.

Martin Cho, true to form, bit immediately. Clara knew he would. She monitored her secure chat with him [set up through a ridiculous series of encrypted apps that made her feel like a spy in a bad movie).

Unknown Source: This is real. Check the transaction IDs against the Cayman filings.

Cho: Holy shit. This is… this is huge. Who are you?

Unknown Source: Someone who’s tired of watching a bully win. Publish it

Cho: I need to verify. This will take-

Unknown Source: You have 24 hours before I take it to the Wall Street Journal. Your call.

She logged off, grinning. “And… hook, line, and sinker. Martin is verifying, which means he’s calling his sources and sweating through his shirt. The story drops tomorrow morning.

The FBI package was trickier. Frost handled that personally. A nondescript courier dropped the sealed. fingerprint–free envelope at the FBI’s field office in the city. The return address was a vacant lot. The contents were enough to start an investigation, but not enough to reveal their hand.

Phase one and two were in motion.

Now, they waited,

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1:19 pm

Chapter 170 Empire Of Forgery

Finished

The next morning, Elera was in the lab earlier than usual. She couldn’t sleep. The waiting was worse than he doing. She was running a routine culture analysis when Drakonius walked in, holding two tablets. He handed one to her.

It’s live.”

On the screen was the Financial Sentinel’s homepage. The lead story banner was bold and damning:

EXCLUSIVE: INSIDE THE MERIDIAN MIRE: DOCUMENTS REVEAL SYSTEMIC FRAUD, $80M MYSTERY AT NETHYS–LINKED SHELL COMPANY

3y Martin Cho

The article was a masterpiece of financial journalism–dry, precise, and utterly devastating. It laid out the raudulent transactions, the phantom Caribbean resort, the circular money trails. It quoted “internal locuments” and “sources close to the matter.” It didn’t mention Kieran by name in the headline, but by the hird paragraph, it was clear who was at the center of the web.

Elera scrolled, her heart pounding with a fierce, grim satisfaction. “He did it. Cho nailed it.”

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