Chapter 9 - Forty-Eight Hours
Robert was found the next morning.
Alive.
Terrified.
Sitting alone inside a motel near Orlando.
He had the portfolio.
And the note.
Walter had offered him money to destroy it.
Robert refused.
Not because he suddenly grew a conscience.
Because Walter had refused to guarantee the chairmanship.
Greed had created the betrayal.
Greed also destroyed it.
Dana filed the challenge.
Northstar’s emergency shareholder meeting was delayed.
For the first time, Walter lost control of both fronts at once.
That was when he became dangerous.
My hotel received a package.
No return address.
Inside was one photograph.
Me.
Walking out of the federal building.
Taken that morning.
On the back:
YOU CAN’T PROTECT EVERYONE.
Underneath were three names.
Dana.
Margaret.
Thomas.
I handed it to investigators.
Security increased immediately.
Walter denied involvement.
Of course.
Gregory, meanwhile, wanted to speak to me.
I refused.
Then he sent a message through his attorney.
I KNOW WHAT MY FATHER IS GOING TO DO NEXT.
Dana read it twice.
“Could be manipulation.”
“It is.”
“You still want to hear him?”
“Yes.”
We met through reinforced glass.
Gregory wore a plain detention uniform.
No tailored suit.
No expensive watch.
No father beside him.
He looked smaller.
“Ashlynn.”
I said nothing.
“I’m sorry.”
“No, you’re not.”
His eyes lowered.
“My father—”
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
“You don’t get to use him as an excuse.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
He looked at me.
“You tried to drug me.”
Silence.
“You tried to stage a psychiatric breakdown.”
Silence.
“You swung a baseball bat at me.”
His jaw tightened.
“I know.”
“And you did all of it because you thought marriage entitled you to control me.”
“I was wrong.”
I almost smiled.
“You’re not sorry you believed it.”
His face changed.
“You’re sorry it failed.”
He looked down.
That was answer enough.
“Why am I here?”
Gregory swallowed.
“My father has a copy of the camera recording.”
“We know.”
“No.”
He leaned toward the glass.
“The full recording.”
My pulse shifted.
“Full?”
“Audio too.”
Walter had leaked only the edited sixteen-second clip.
The complete video would show everything.
The threats.
The bat.
The planned assault.
“Where?”
Gregory hesitated.
I stood.
“Ashlynn, wait.”
“Where?”
“My father’s plane.”
I sat again.
“He has a private jet at Palm Beach International.”
“How do you know?”
“He keeps an encrypted backup drive in a compartment under the rear desk.”
“Why?”
“Insurance.”
“Against whom?”
“Everyone.”
That sounded like Walter.
Gregory continued.
“He records meetings.”
Dana, listening from the adjacent room, immediately began contacting investigators.
“If that drive exists,” I said, “why tell me?”
Gregory smiled sadly.
“Because he left me.”
Finally.
The real motive.
Revenge.
Not conscience.
“He abandoned you, so now you’ll betray him.”
“He betrayed me first.”
“That sentence tells me you still don’t understand.”
Gregory’s expression hardened.
“Does it matter?”
“Yes.”
“To you, maybe.”
He leaned closer.
“But the drive still exists.”
It did.
Investigators obtained legal authority to secure the aircraft before it could depart.
Walter fought it.
Lost.
The compartment existed exactly where Gregory said.
Inside was a solid-state drive.
Its contents were devastating.
Payments.
Recordings.
Photographs.
Negotiations.
Threats.
The full cabin video.
Walter’s voice speaking to Gregory before the wedding.
“Don’t hit her where cameras can see bruises afterward.”
I had to stop listening.
Dana closed the laptop.
“We have him.”
I wanted to believe her.
Then her phone rang.
Her expression changed.
“What now?”
She looked at me.
“Walter’s gone.”
Again.
“How?”
“His house security footage shows him leaving twenty minutes before the warrant was executed.”
“Car?”
“Found abandoned.”
“Airport?”
“No record.”
I felt that familiar coldness.
He had planned another exit.
Then Thomas called.
His voice was shaking.
“My mother is missing.”
Margaret’s security detail had found her hotel room empty.
No signs of forced entry.
Her phone remained on the nightstand.
On the mirror, written in lipstick, were four words.
MOTHERS SHOULD OBEY TOO.
Walter had stopped protecting his empire.
May you like
Now he was punishing everyone who had defied him.
And somewhere in Florida, Margaret Hartman was alone with the man she had feared for thirty-five years.
