Chapter 9 - Reclaiming the FoundationWith Apex Holdings dismantled and the Vance real estate assets frozen under federal receivership, the U.S. Attorney’s office moved swiftly to restructure the tainted properties.
Three days after the arrests, Bridget Colton called me into her high-rise downtown office overlooking the snowy expanse of the Sierra Nevada mountains.
“Tessa,” Bridget said, sliding a thick legal document across her mahogany desk. “Because you were the primary federal whistleblower who exposed the municipal racketeering ring, and because your forensic audits legally established the illicit origins of Apex Holdings, the federal bankruptcy court has made a ruling regarding the company’s residual assets.”
I glanced down at the document, my eyes scanning the bold headers.
“The commercial real estate portfolio?” I asked, looking up.
“Is being awarded to the state’s whistleblower restitution fund,” Bridget smiled. “And under federal statute, you have the legal right to direct the dispersal of those assets or assume receivership of the liquidated shell companies.”
I stared at the papers. Millions of dollars in prime downtown commercial real estate, corporate infrastructure, and land deeds—all of it wrested entirely from the corrupt hands that had used it to oppress others.
“I don't want to run a real estate conglomerate,” I said quietly, shaking my head.
“Then what do you want to do with it?” Bridget asked, leaning back in her chair with a knowing, approving smile.
I picked up the pen from her desk.
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“We establish a permanent, fully funded legal defense and emergency safe-house network for survivors of domestic abuse and corporate retaliation,” I said, my voice firm and resolute. “We take the very money they stole through corruption, and we use it to build a fortress for people they tried to destroy.”
Bridget’s smile widened into an expression of absolute, fierce pride. “Now that... is a proper airstrike.”
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