CHAPTER 6 — Tyler's Final Offer
Five days later.
Tyler Callahan requested a meeting.
His lawyers insisted he wanted to negotiate.
The FBI refused.
Until Tyler made one shocking statement.
"I'll confess."
"But only if Natalie hears it herself."
Against everyone's advice...
I agreed.
The federal detention center smelled like concrete and bleach.
Tyler no longer looked like a billionaire.
Orange prison uniform.
Unshaven face.
Dark circles beneath his eyes.
The arrogant smile was gone.
He stared through thick security glass.
For almost a full minute...
Neither of us spoke.
Finally...
He laughed.
"I underestimated you."
I said nothing.
He leaned closer.
"You really fooled everyone."
"You even fooled me."
I looked at the man I had loved for eight years.
"I loved you."
"I know."
His answer hurt more than any insult.
"I just loved money more."
No apology.
No regret.
Only honesty.
Then he slid a sealed envelope toward the glass.
"I'll tell the FBI everything."
"Every account."
"Every politician."
"Every murder."
"But only if you do one thing."
"What?"
He smiled.
"Disappear."
"Leave America."
"Raise Ethan somewhere no one knows his name."
I frowned.
"Why?"
Tyler's smile slowly disappeared.
For the first time...
He looked genuinely afraid.
"You still don't understand."
"My father wasn't running the empire."
Cold spread through my body.
"What are you talking about?"
Tyler lowered his voice to a whisper.
"There is someone above Richard."
I stared at him.
"No."
"There isn't."
He nodded slowly.
"There always has been."
"The Callahans weren't the leaders."
"We were employees."
Every FBI agent inside the observation room suddenly leaned toward their microphones.
Tyler swallowed hard.
"The people funding us..."
"They don't forgive betrayal."
He looked directly into my eyes.
"They already know Ethan survived."
My blood turned cold.
"And now..."
"They're coming for your son."
The room fell into absolute silence.
The investigation that had destroyed one billionaire family...
Had just uncovered something far bigger.
A criminal organization powerful enough to make the Callahans look like puppets.
May you like
And somewhere outside those prison walls...
Someone had already started hunting my baby.
