Chapter 11 - RICHARD'S DARKEST SECRET EXPOSED
With the primary probate battle concluded,
the federal investigation into Richard Sterling expanded into darker,
more dangerous territory.
Seated in a secure interrogation room at the federal detention center,
I watched through a one-way mirror as Agent Marcus Vance confronted my stepfather with a stack of classified corporate tax documents.
Richard looked defeated,
his expensive suit replaced by a standard orange jumpsuit,
his gray hair uncombed and matted against his forehead.
"You're looking at twenty years on wire fraud alone,
Richard,"
Agent Vance stated coldly,
tossing a thick file onto the metal table.
"Unless you want to talk about the missing government defense contracts."
Richard flinched violently at the mention of defense contracts,
his eyes widening with terror as he stared across the table.
"I don't know what you're talking about,"
Richard muttered,
his voice cracking noticeably.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about,"
Vance countered,
leaning forward.
"Your construction company didn't just launder money for Julian's restaurants."
"You were funneling kickbacks from classified Pentagon subcontracting bids."
In the observation room,
my breath caught slightly in my throat as the pieces of a much larger puzzle finally clicked together.
My father's sudden death of a "heart attack" at sixty-seven had never truly sat right with my intelligence instincts.
I pressed the intercom button and spoke directly into the encrypted mic connected to Vance's earpiece.
"Ask him about the medication log,
Agent Vance,"
I instructed quietly.
"Ask him who visited my father thirty minutes before his heart attack."
Inside the interrogation room,
Vance repeated my exact words,
watching Richard's face turn completely pale.
"The nurse,"
Richard choked out,
tears finally spilling down his cheeks.
"It was Richard's private nurse.
Victoria wanted him gone before he could change his will."
A cold fury washed over me,
far deeper and more lethal than any courtroom victory could ever satisfy.
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They hadn't just tried to steal an inheritance.
They had murdered my father.
