CHAPTER 10 — THE VOICE IN THE DARK
Richard was still inside federal prison.
The man standing on the overhead walkway wore Richard’s face on a tablet screen.
A live video call.
“You look well, Khloe,” Richard said.
Martin struggled against the ropes.
“Get out of here.”
Khloe looked around the depot.
Someone else was controlling the weapon.
“What do you want?”
Richard smiled.
“The same thing I always wanted. What belongs to me.”
“Nothing belongs to you.”
“The company carried my name.”
“You stole it from me.”
“I built it.”
“You built your reputation with my father’s money and my voting shares.”
Richard’s expression hardened.
“Give Thomas the ledger and sign Meridian over to him.”
“Why would you help Thomas?”
“Because he can get me out.”
Khloe understood.
Thomas planned to create enough doubt around Richard’s conviction to reopen parts of the case. In exchange, Richard would help him gain control of Meridian.
“You blamed Vanessa when you were on trial,” Khloe said. “Now you’re trusting the man who helped destroy you?”
“I’m trusting his ambition.”
“And he’s trusting your desperation.”
The laser moved across her chest.
Richard leaned closer to the camera.
“Sign the agreement.”
A document waited on a table beside Martin.
Khloe picked it up.
The papers transferred all Meridian properties to a private investment group.
She recognized the group’s address.
It belonged to one of Thomas’s shell companies.
“You entered my daughter’s nursery,” she said.
Richard’s smile disappeared.
“I did not authorize that.”
For the first time, Khloe believed him.
Richard had harmed her in countless ways.
But the warning written inside Hope’s room had frightened him too.
Thomas was acting beyond their agreement.
“You don’t control him anymore,” Khloe said.
“I control enough.”
“No. You’re still sitting inside a cell, begging another man to give you power.”
The screen went dark.
A masked figure stepped from behind a concrete pillar.
He pointed a weapon at Martin.
“Sign.”
Khloe moved toward the table.
Then every light inside the depot turned on.
Federal agents entered from three directions.
Harrison had ignored Khloe’s demand and contacted Lena, who coordinated the rescue.
The masked man fired once.
The bullet struck a metal beam.
Agents returned fire, wounding him in the shoulder.
Martin was freed.
Khloe remained unharmed.
The masked man was identified as Jacob Voss, a private security contractor employed by Thomas Crane.
Inside his vehicle, investigators found photographs of Khloe’s house, Hope’s nursery and Emma’s mother.
Rebecca Shaw had been held at a rural medical facility owned by one of Thomas’s companies.
When agents arrived, the facility was empty.
But Rebecca had left something behind.
A message scratched into the wooden frame beneath a hospital bed.
Emma recognized her mother’s handwriting.
DANIEL’S ORIGINAL RECORDING IS IN THE COURTHOUSE.
Khloe stared at the message.
“Which courthouse?”
Harrison’s face changed.
“The courthouse where you fell.”
Hours later, Khloe and Harrison entered the Montgomery County Courthouse with investigators.
Daniel had helped fund a renovation there years earlier.
Behind a memorial plaque carrying his name, they discovered a narrow compartment.
Inside was another flash drive.
The full recording played on Harrison’s laptop.
Daniel described Thomas’s crimes, Meridian’s purpose and the forged transactions.
Then his voice grew quiet.
“There is one more truth.”
Harrison leaned toward the screen.
“If Thomas learns that Harrison signed the original transfer, he will use it to destroy my son.”
Harrison stopped breathing.
May you like
Daniel continued.
“Harrison’s signature is genuine.”
