Chapter 5 - The Evidence of Dr. Vance
By midnight on Sunday, the central library of the DeLuca estate had been converted into an active federal forensic command center.
Sitting around the massive conference table were Damian, Natalie, Chief Corporate Litigator David Ross, and Special Agent Marcus Miller of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Public Corruption and Healthcare Fraud Division.
Spread across the thirty-foot table were fifty decrypted hard drives, unsealed medical registries, and encrypted audio recordings extracted from Dr. Kenneth Vance’s private clinical servers in downtown Chicago.
"The evidence is incontrovertible, Mr. DeLuca," Agent Miller reported, tapping a digital tablet displaying an illuminated financial network. "For twenty-four months, Richard Vance wired forty-five thousand dollars a month from Apex Capital directly to his brother’s private research account at the university."
"And the specific protocols they were administering to Ava?" Natalie asked, her hands clenched tightly in her lap.
Agent Miller flipped to section four of the dossier.
"Dr. Vance was deliberately prescribing high-dose, unindicated anticholinergic neuro-suppressants disguised as pediatric multivitamin drops," Agent Miller explained, his voice tight with professional revulsion. "The compound induces acute sensory dysregulation, severe auditory hypersensitivity, and temporary expressive aphasia. It was engineered to mimic profound intellectual degeneration on clinical assessment scales."
Damian sat motionless at the head of the table.
His face was carved from granite, but the veins along his temples were thrumming with a lethal, suppressed fury that made the federal agents avoid his gaze.
"They poisoned my daughter in her own home," Damian whispered, each word dropping like a lead weight onto the table.
"We have the laboratory manifests, the purchase orders for the synthetic compounds, and the audio recording of Richard Vance instructing Dr. Vance to accelerate the dosages prior to the probate hearing," David Ross added, sliding an unsealed grand jury indictment across the table. "The federal court issued seventeen arrest warrants sixty minutes ago."
Natalie looked at Damian.
She reached across the table, placing her hand gently over his clenched fist.
May you like
Damian’s fingers uncurled slowly beneath her touch, his dark eyes meeting hers with an intensity of deep, unshakeable reverence that took her breath away.
"Tomorrow morning at ten o'clock, Natalie," Damian said softly. "We finish this."
