Chapter 13 - The Geneva AccountGrant’s threat wasn't a bluff; it was a desperate final gamble. Within forty-eight hours of reading the letter, Roman’s chief cybersecurity specialist intercepted an encrypted data packet routed from the federal penitentiary directly to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan—an anonymous tip containing the exact account number and routing codes for the Geneva safety deposit box.

"He’s trying to drag us down with him," Roman said as we stood in our private home office, watching the decryption progress bar creep across a triple-monitored workstation. "If the Feds seize that Geneva box, they freeze our primary liquidity channels before the winter shipping contracts clear."

"Then we beat them to Zurich," I said, sliding my passport across the desk. "Grant thinks he’s playing chess from a prison cell, but he forgot who holds the keys to the board."

Twelve hours later, our private Gulfstream touched down on the tarmac at Zurich Airport under a freezing European drizzle. We didn't waste time checking into a hotel. We drove straight through the financial district to the imposing granite doors of the Swiss Union Bank, accompanied by our top corporate counsel and two armed security consultants.

The bank manager—a severe man with wire-rimmed glasses and an impeccably tailored charcoal suit—greeted us in a private subterranean vault room lined with polished steel safety deposit lockers.

"Mr. and Mrs. Caruso," the manager said, his voice dropping an octave as he slid a biometric verification tablet across the marble table. "We received the emergency injunction filed under Arthur Mercer’s estate, but to access Box 402 registered under Elena Mercer, we require both a court order and the physical family signet."

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I reached into my handbag, pulled out the heavy gold signet ring I had pried off my father’s desk the day we burned the estate, and placed it squarely in the center of the marble table.

"The court order is pending in New York," I said, my voice cutting through the chilled air of the vault. "And the ring is right here. Open the box."