Chapter 5 - Unraveling Secrets
The rain was coming down in sheets when Nathan’s black armored SUV pulled up to the curb outside a dilapidated four-story brick building on Maple Street.
The neighborhood was dark, lit only by the flickering orange glow of a single streetlamp at the corner. The windows of Emma's third-floor apartment were completely pitch-black.
Marcus checked the tactical monitor mounted on the SUV dashboard.
"Heat signature camera shows two individuals inside the third-floor apartment," Marcus reported, pulling out his sidearm and checking the magazine. "They're tearing the place apart, Nathan. Sterling's cleanup crew."
Nathan pulled a heavy flashlight from the glove compartment. "I'm going in."
"Nathan, absolutely not," Marcus insisted. "You're a CEO, not a SWAT officer. My men will handle this."
"It's my mother's evidence, Marcus," Nathan said, his voice flat and unyielding. "And those men were in my daughter's bedroom. I'm going in."
Seeing the unshakeable determination in Nathan’s eyes, Marcus sighed and handed him a light Kevlar vest. "Put this on. Stay behind me."
They moved up the creaky, dark fire escape at the back of the building, slipping quietly through the unlocked rear window into a small, cluttered kitchen.
The apartment smelled of old soup, worn carpets, and the cheap perfume of the intruder's sweat. From the living room, Nathan could hear the violent sound of drawers being pulled out and smashed against the floorboards.
"Where is it?!" a rough voice growled in the dark. "The boss said the girl had a hidden lockbox! Search the closets!"
"I'm looking, man! The place is a dump!" another voice shouted back.
Marcus gestured with three fingers, signaling his two operatives behind him. They moved like shadows.
One. Two. Three.
Marcus kicked the door open. "POLICE! DON'T MOVE!"
The two men in dark jackets whirled around, one reaching for a pistol tucked into his waistband. Before he could clear his holster, Marcus's operative fired a silent taser round. The man collapsed onto the rug, twitching violently.
The second intruder tried to bolt toward the fire escape, but Nathan stepped straight into his path, swinging the heavy aluminum flashlight with all his weight.
CRACK.
The flashlight struck the man squarely across the jaw. He dropped to his knees, groaning, blood spattering across the torn wallpaper.
Nathan stood over him, breathing heavily, his knuckles raw. He didn't look down at the man. He walked straight into the small bedroom in the back.
The room was filled with hand-me-down furniture, colorful fairy lights hanging from the ceiling, and school textbooks neatly stacked on a desk. On the wall was a small framed photo of Emma holding a toddler-aged Sophie at a public park.
Nathan felt a strange, deep ache in his chest seeing how humbly they had lived while he slept in a twelve-thousand-square-foot penthouse overlooking the lake.
He dropped to his knees inside the small closet, pushing aside a pile of winter coats. Just as Emma had said, one of the floorboards was slightly loose.
Nathan pried it open with his pocketknife.
Inside the dark recess lay a heavy, fireproof silver box, secured with a four-digit combination lock.
Nathan looked at the dial.
He tried his mother's birthday: 0-4-1-2. The lock didn't budge.
He tried Emma's birthday: 1-0-1-7. Nothing.
He stopped, thinking back to the letter. Protect our family, Nathan.
He dialed his own birthday: 0-8-2-4.
CLICK.
The heavy steel latch popped open.
Inside lay a heavy black external hard drive, a small micro-cassette tape, and an old leather-bound journal.
Nathan opened the journal. On the very first page was a copy of Sarah Cole's final will and testament, dated sixteen years ago, legally witnessed by an out-of-state notary.
It explicitly assigned forty-nine percent of the founding shares of Sterling-Northstar Enterprises directly to Emma Cole upon her sixteenth birthday, naming Nathan Cole as her sole legal guardian until she reached thirty.
Attached to the document was a USB drive labeled: STERLING FRAUD & EXTORTION - FULL OFFSHORE LOGS.
Nathan picked up the hard drive. It was the missing key. The proof that Sterling hadn't just tried to kill Emma to cover up a hit-and-run—he had tried to liquidate her entire inheritance before she turned sixteen to prevent her from discovering that he had stolen billions from Sarah Cole's original trust fund.
"Nathan," Marcus called out from the doorway, holding his radio to his ear. "We've got a problem at the hospital."
Nathan stood up instantly, the box gripped tightly in his hands. "What happened?"
"A team of lawyers accompanied by two state marshals just showed up at Lakeshore ICU," Marcus said, his face pale. "They have a court order signed by Judge Vance—Sterling's bought judge. They're seizing Emma and Sophie into state custody immediately under the guise of an 'ongoing federal investigation.'"
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Nathan’s eyes flared with pure, absolute fury.
"They're trying to separate them so we can't present the evidence," Nathan spat, rushing toward the fire escape. "Call the helicopter. We're flying directly to the courthouse."
