Part 2: Three privileged college boys shattered my nineteen-year-old daughter’s jaw in six places, then laughed because they believed their families could buy her silence. K007

The federal penitentiary was a bleak fortress of concrete and steel, standing stark against the gray morning sky. I sat in the sterile visitation room, staring at the thick pane of reinforced glass that separated the prisoners from the outside world.

A door buzzed open on the other side, and Sebastian walked in. He wore a standard orange jumpsuit, his hands cuffed until he took his seat, at which point a guard removed the restraints.

He picked up the phone.

"You're visiting twice in one month," Sebastian said, a wry smile touching his lips. "I must be getting popular in my old age."

"I need your perspective on a problem," I said, getting straight to the point.

Sebastian’s smile faded. He leaned closer to the glass.

"You have that look in your eye, Dominic. The one you used to get before a hostile takeover. I thought you retired."

"Lily is investigating Marcus Thorne."

Sebastian exhaled sharply, a sound of genuine concern.

"Thorne. I heard whispers through the prison grapevine that he was moving his operation north. If Lily is poking around Obsidian Holdings, she’s walking through a minefield blindfolded."

"She refuses to drop the story," I said. "Vincent warned me that Thorne is already asking questions about her. I need to know what Thorne’s current capabilities are."

"He’s ruthless," Sebastian replied quietly. "When you ran the city, you had rules. Boundaries. Thorne has none. He uses terror as a primary currency. If he feels threatened by an article, he won't just sue the paper. He’ll send a team to her apartment."

"I won't let that happen."

"Then you have a difficult choice to make," Sebastian said, his eyes locking onto mine. "You can’t fight Marcus Thorne with a stern warning and a legal injunction. You have to break him. But if you do that, you risk becoming the Ghost again. You risk losing the peace you just fought so hard to win for Evelyn and Lily."

"There has to be a middle ground," I insisted. "A way to dismantle his operation without crossing the line I swore I wouldn't cross again."

"Thorne’s entire operation is funded by a centralized digital ledger," Sebastian mused, thinking aloud. "He’s paranoid. He doesn't trust banks, and he doesn't trust his lieutenants. If you find that ledger, you can freeze his assets. A cartel boss without money is a dead man."