Chapter 5 - The War in the Shadows
The Prescotts didn't surrender; they went to war.
Three days after the country club incident, the offensive hit us from every direction. The Charlotte Observer published a front-page article alleging that I was under internal investigation by the Pentagon for abusing military resources for personal vendettas. A series of altered photos appeared online attempting to show Emily at wild, drug-fueled parties in Miami, claiming she had a long history of severe mental instability.
Then came the physical threats.
At 0200 hours on Tuesday, the alarm system at my off-base residence was triggered. Surveillance cameras captured two masked men cutting the power lines and attempting to breach the back door. They didn't know that my house was being monitored by a four-person military security detail. Within ninety seconds, both intruders were pinned to the wet grass in handcuffs.
When CID unmasked them, they found concealed weapons, zip ties, and heavy sedatives in their tactical vests. They were private contractors hired by Brandon Prescott’s security firm.
"They're getting desperate, Colonel," Captain Lin reported the next morning as we reviewed the interrogation transcripts at my office on base. "The U.S. Attorney has officially opened a grand jury investigation into Prescott Real Estate Holdings. Subpoenas were issued for their bank servers two hours ago."
"How is Ethan reacting?" I asked, looking out the window at the parade field where soldiers were conducting morning physical training.
"Ethan is crumbling," Lin smiled thinly. "He’s a spoiled coward who was raised under his mother's thumb. Our informants inside their legal team say he's terrified of federal prison. He's been drinking heavily and arguing with his brother."
"Focus our fire on Ethan," I ordered instantly. "A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Break Ethan, and you break Margaret."
That afternoon, Marcus Vance arranged a secret meeting with Ethan’s personal criminal defense attorney in a quiet diner outside Charlotte.
We laid out a single offer on the table: absolute cooperation with the federal government, full disclosure of the offshore accounts, and a complete guilty plea to the domestic abuse charges—in exchange for a reduced sentence in a medium-security facility.
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"If Ethan takes this deal, he serves eight years," Marcus told his lawyer. "If he stays loyal to his mother and brother, he goes down on the RICO conspiracy charges with them. That’s mandatory thirty years to life without parole. Tell your client he has twenty-four hours to decide whether he wants to spend his youth in a federal penitentiary to protect his mother's vanity."
That night, Ethan made his choice.
