Chapter 12 - The Wiretap from Chicago
"He's bluffing, Mara," Arthur said, pacing back and forth in my living room, surrounded by legal documents. "Richard Sterling hasn't set foot in a public courtroom in eight years. He operates through shell corporations and high-powered proxy lawyers."
"He isn't bluffing about the trust, Arthur," I said, looking at the silver key. "He used Grant to probe my defenses. Now that Grant failed, Richard is stepping in to finish the job himself."
My phone vibrated on the table. It was an encrypted text from an unknown burner number.
Check your email. Don't trust Arthur's junior partner.
My heart skipped a beat. I opened my encrypted inbox to find an audio file attached. I pressed play.
A deep, gravelly voice—unmistakably Richard Sterling—echoed through the speaker: "If Grant can't drive her to a breakdown, stage an incident with the kids. Make her look unfit before the board meeting in Chicago. Once the trustees freeze her accounts, we acquire Vance Logistics for pennies on the dollar. The girl has no idea her own father left a secondary clause in his will."
Then came a second voice on the tape—Grant’s voice, trembling: "Father, she’s smarter than you think. She knows about the offshore accounts."
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"Then break her," Richard replied coldly. "Or I’ll destroy you both."
I closed my laptop slowly. The trap Grant set for me at the dinner table that night hadn't just been his idea. It was a deadline imposed on him by his own father.
