Chapter 3 - BLOOD AND HONORI pulled Madison up by her elbows and sat her down in a chair. For twenty years, I had resented my sister. I had hated her for taking the car bought with my sweat, for wearing Mom's pearls, for looking down on my military uniform. But looking at her now—shivering, bruised, and abandoned by the man who spoiled her—I realized she wasn't the mastermind. She was just Gordon Bennett's ultimate decoy.
"When did he transfer the company assets to your name?" Agent Vance asked, stepping forward with his notepad.
"Three years ago," Madison whispered, wiping her nose with a paper towel. "He told me it was a tax protection strategy for my inheritance. He said it would make me an independent heiress before I married Ethan. I signed whatever he put in front of me!"
"Which means," Ethan said, his voice grim, "when federal prosecutors file charges for treason and equipment failure causing military casualties, Madison is the legal CEO who signs the contracts."
Madison stared at Ethan in absolute horror. "No... no! Ethan, please! You know I don't know anything about hardware! I don't even know how to check the oil in my car!"
"He set you up to take the fall, Maddy," I said softly. "The moment the feds started digging, he planned to walk away with the hidden accounts while you went to federal prison."
"Can you save me?" Madison grabbed my hands, her manicured nails digging into my skin. "Avery, please! You’ve always saved people! Save me!"
"Only if you help us catch him," I said.
Just then, my encrypted military phone vibrated on the table. An unknown number flashed on the screen. I put it on speaker.
"Avery," Gordon’s voice rasped through the speaker, low and sinister. "I see you've taken your pathetic little sister into your care. How sweet."
"Where are you, Gordon?" I asked, keeping my voice steady.
"I'm at Mom's old cottage in Cape Charles," Gordon sneered. "I’m opening the floorboards tonight, Avery. I’m taking the last of the unregistered bearer bonds and catching a flight out of the country. If you or your military dogs try to stop me, I'll release the security tapes from the 2015 rescue incident. I'll make sure the Navy thinks you deliberately sabotaged that mission to play the hero."
"You're out of moves, Dad," I said.
May you like
"I'm never out of moves!" he roared. "Meet me alone in two hours. Or your darling sister’s name goes onto the federal indictment list before midnight!"
The line clicked dead.
