Chapter 6 - The Ambush
My attorney answered the phone, his face instantly turning pale in the glow of the streetlights.
He put the phone on speaker so I could hear the panicked voice of my private security chief.
The security chief reported that three armed men had just kicked in the door of Jake’s apartment.
I had placed Jake in a secure hotel, but the cartel must have tracked his old address.
They were looking for my brother to collect the debt my parents had pinned on him.
I ordered the security team to extract Jake from the hotel and move him to a heavily fortified safe house.
I realized my parents’ reckless greed had placed a literal target on my little brother’s back.
I could not wait for the FBI to build a slow, methodical case against the cartel.
I had to draw the fire away from Jake and aim it directly at the people who started this.
I used my voice-altering burner phone to call the cartel’s local enforcer.
I told the enforcer that I was the anonymous buyer who had purchased the debt.
I promised to wire them the full half-million dollars within sixty minutes.
In exchange, I demanded they leave Jake alone and focus their attention entirely on my parents.
The enforcer laughed a dark, cruel laugh and accepted my terms.
I transferred the money from my lottery trust, effectively buying my brother’s life back.
I thought I had finally neutralized the immediate physical threat.
The next morning, I went to a quiet coffee shop to meet with a federal investigator.
We were finalizing the immunity deal for Jake before handing over the ledger photos.
I looked up and saw my mother and Madison walking directly toward my table.
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They did not look surprised to see me.
My mother slammed a printed photograph of my face onto the table, completely shattering my anonymity.
