PART 3: THE STERLING CONSPIRACY
Evelyn began to wail, throwing herself onto the sofa. “No! This is a mistake! My husband is a philanthropist!”
“Your husband is a traitor,” Colonel Vance said coldly. “And so are you, ma'am, for laundering the funds.”
Two federal agents stepped forward, grabbing Richard’s arms and slapping heavy steel handcuffs onto his wrists.
“Daniel…” Richard hissed, his face completely drained of color. “You did this. You set me up.”
“I didn't set you up, Dad. I just watched,” I said, walking over to him. “When you cut off Claire’s access to my military pay, she had to look for other accounts. She found an encrypted server in your home office. She didn't know what it was, so she sent the data packet to my secure military email.”
Richard’s eyes darted around the room, realization finally dawning on him.
“You thought she was trying to steal company documents,” I continued, my voice low and dangerous. “That’s why you threw her out into a blizzard. You wanted her dead before she could tell me what she found.”
“She was a threat!” Richard yelled, struggling against the guards.
“She’s my wife,” I slammed my fist into the wall next to his head, making him flinch. “The encrypted data she sent me contained the shipping manifests for the military equipment your company was supposed to manufacture for the US Army. Except you weren't delivering them to our troops. You were selling them on the black market to hostile forces in North Africa.”
The room went completely silent, save for Evelyn’s quiet sobbing.
“While I was overseas dodging bullets, my own father was selling weapons to the people shooting at me,” I said, my chest heaving. “You used my deployment as a distraction, thinking I’d die over there and the trust would revert to you permanently.”
Colonel Vance stepped between us. “Take them away,” he ordered the agents.
As the guards dragged Richard and Evelyn out into the freezing night, my father turned his head back, screaming into the wind.
“You’ve ruined us! You’ve ruined the family name! You have nothing left!”
May you like
I watched the black vans pull out of the driveway, their tires crunching on the snow.
“I have everything that matters,” I muttered to myself.
