Chapter 9 - The Final Audit
I looked at the monitor, then down at the scrolling lines of federal indictment drafts filling my laptop screen. The trap was complete. Arthur Sterling had checkmated us both, using the federal justice system as a blunt instrument to force Dante into submission and silence me permanently.
"He's offering you a way out, Dana," Dante said quietly, his voice dangerously low. He didn't look at the screen; he was looking at me. "Take the immunity package. Leo can drive you to JFK right now. By morning, you'll be back in Oregon, completely out of reach."
I looked up at him, my jaw tight. "And what about you? You stay here and dance to Sterling's tune, or fight a federal grand jury with a broken syndicate?"
"I've been fighting this war since my father put a pen in my hand," Dante said, a grim, defiant set to his mouth. "I know how to survive it."
"No, you don't," I said, standing up from the desk so fast my chair screeched against the hardwood floor. "Because you've spent your whole life trying to balance the ledger alone, Dante. You think sacrifice is the same thing as protection."
I turned back to the terminal, my fingers dancing across the keyboard with a speed and precision I hadn't felt since my first days auditing the Rossi cartel.
Sterling’s voice crackled from the monitor speakers, sharp with sudden impatience. "Valerio, control your accountant. What is she doing?"
"She's doing an audit, Arthur," Dante said, a slow, dark grin finally breaking across his face as he watched my hands fly across the keys.
"What are you accessing?" Sterling demanded, leaning closer to his camera.
"You assumed the U.S. Attorney’s Office was the only destination for that mirror server," I said without looking up, my voice cold and steady. "You forgot something fundamental about forensic accounting, Mr. Sterling. Every shadow account has a beneficiary."
I hit the enter key with a sharp, definitive crack.
The monitor in front of Sterling flickered, and the video feed was instantly replaced by a public-access broadcast link routing directly to every major news network, financial wire service, and federal watchdog agency in the country.
"What is that?" Sterling shouted, his composed facade finally cracking as alarms began to chime faintly from the speakers on his end. "Shut that down!"
"I can't," I said, leaning against the edge of the desk and looking straight into the camera lens. "Because it's on an automated public timer. The moment you tried to use the grand jury as leverage, you verified the authenticity of the records. And the moment you verified them, my software cross-referenced every municipal bribe with the offshore accounts registered under your wife's maiden name."
I stepped closer to the screen, my voice ringing clear in the fortified room.
"The federal indictment isn't going to be quietly misplaced, Arthur. It just went live on every screen from Wall Street to Washington. You didn't trap us. You just published your own confession."
For three seconds, Sterling stared at the lens in absolute, paralyzed horror. Then, the video feed abruptly cut to black.
The room fell silent. The hum of the computer fans sounded deafening in the sudden quiet.
I stood there, my heart pounding against my ribs, waiting for the sky to fall. Instead, a warm hand settled gently on the small of my back, drawing me back against a solid, familiar chest.
"Remind me," Dante murmured, his lips brushing my hair, his voice rough with a mix of awe and fierce pride, "never to audit your bad side."
Before I could answer, the heavy steel door of the safehouse slammed open. Marcus stood in the doorway, his weapon still holstered, his phone pressed to his ear.
"Boss," Marcus said, his eyes wide. "We've got a problem. The U.S. Attorney's office isn't calling for an arrest."
Dante pulled back slightly, his dark eyes narrowing. "Then what are they calling for?"
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"They aren't calling the cops," Marcus said, his voice dropping. "They're calling you. The federal prosecutor wants a meeting. Tonight. And she's bringing Hugh Bell’s original case file with her."
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