Chapter 7 - The Ledger’s Secret
The silence that rushed back into the house was heavier than before, suffocating and absolute.
I didn't look at Jessi. I bent down, picked up the manila folder from the floor, and flipped it open. The pages inside were filled with dense rows of routing numbers, cryptographic hashes, and signatures—including my own forged electronic authorization stamps from quarters I had completely forgotten.
"David, I swear I didn't know he was going to use Fiona," Jessi stammered, scrambling up from the floor and reaching out to touch my sleeve. "When he showed up six months ago claiming the feds were still tracking him, he said he just needed a temporary safe house through Wendy. He promised he wouldn't involve the family—"
I pulled my arm away, my eyes still scanning the dense columns of fraudulent transactions.
"You didn't ask questions as long as the trust funds kept clearing into your private accounts, Jessi," I said, my voice devoid of anger, which somehow made it infinitely worse. "You watched your mother groom our daughter into a silent accomplice for a dead man's extortion game."
"What are we going to do?" she cried, her voice cracking as panic finally broke through her frozen composure. "If you sign the escrow over to him, he ruins your firm. If you don't sign, he takes Fiona and runs!"
"I'm not signing anything," I said, closing the folder with a sharp snap. "And I'm not calling the police, either—not yet. Because the moment an active federal warrant hits Arthur's shell companies, he vanishes into the wind with my daughter."
I walked swiftly down the stairs, grabbing my car keys off the foyer console.
"Where are you going?" Jessi gasped, following me to the door.
May you like
"To slip three at the old ferry terminal," I said, pulling the heavy oak door open. "And if Arthur thinks I'm coming alone with a pen to sign away my life's work, he's about to learn how a real venture capitalist handles a hostile takeover."
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