Chapter 9 - Emergency Summit
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Richard Whitmore was staring at his phone screen, his breathing heavy and ragged. He tapped the screen frantically, dialing a number and putting it on speakerphone.
"Harrison! Speak to me!" Richard shouted at his lead defense attorney.
"Richard?" Harrison’s frantic voice came through the speaker, distorted and filled with panic. "Where are you right now? Are you at the estate?"
"Yes! What is happening?"
"The federal grand jury issued three sealed indictments twenty minutes ago!" Harrison yelled over the line. "Federal agents are executing search warrants on the downtown office right now! They have full access to the Cayman accounts, Richard! How did they get those account numbers? Only four people in the world had those codes!"
Richard slowly raised his eyes from the phone to look at me.
"She did it," Richard whispered, his voice trembling. "The girl did it."
"Who? Maya?" Harrison gasped. "Richard, listen to me very carefully. If those records are authenticated, you, Eleanor, and Daniel are looking at grand larceny, money laundering, and conspiracy. Do not speak to anyone! Do not—"
Richard ended the call. The phone slipped from his fingers and clattered against the hardwood floor.
Eleanor sank into a wingback leather chair, her pristine composure completely obliterated. Her pearl necklace felt like a noose around her neck. She looked at me, no longer seeing a helpless bride, but a ghost that had come to collect a long-overdue debt.
"Maya," Eleanor whimpered, her voice cracking as she pleaded for the very first time in her life. "Please... we are family now. You married Daniel tonight. If we go down, Daniel goes to prison too! You love him, don't you?"
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I looked down at Daniel, who was weeping quietly on the floor at his mother's feet.
"I loved the man I thought he was," I said softly. "But that man was just a character you wrote for him, Eleanor."
