Chapter 17 - Decrypting the Truth
The revelation hit me like a physical blow to the chest. My father had actively participated in a murder just to help my ex-husband steal my children.
I replayed the video, freezing the frame on my father's face. The three million dollars he sent me wasn't a penalty fee extracted from my mother. It was David's money, a strategic bribe designed to manipulate me into buying a house in a location David chose, setting the stage for the final frame-up.
My father had sold me out for a payout.
I minimized the video, saving multiple encrypted copies to the external hard drives and uploading it to a secure cloud server using a burner phone's hotspot. I now possessed the exact piece of evidence needed to destroy David's empire and send my father to prison for the rest of his miserable life.
But simply handing the footage to Marcus wasn't going to be enough. David controlled the local police, and his reach into the judicial system was staggering. If I surfaced now, I would be arrested for Henderson's murder before the video ever saw the inside of a courtroom.
I needed an ally on the inside. Someone with federal jurisdiction who despised David as much as I did.
I paced the wooden floor of the cabin, my mind scanning through years of corporate galas and miserable dinners I was forced to attend during my marriage. Then, a name sparked in my memory.
Director Vance.
May you like
He was the head of a federal anti-corruption task force. Years ago, David had humiliated Vance's department by legally maneuvering his way out of a massive embezzlement indictment. Vance had publicly vowed to ruin David if he ever found a single thread of hard evidence.
I grabbed one of the burner phones and stepped out onto the freezing porch, watching my breath turn to steam in the icy air. I dialed a number I hadn't used in three years, praying she would answer.
