Chapter 9 - The Fall of the Empire
We didn't wait for them to strike.
The next morning, Marcus and I launched our counter-offensive. We didn't file a lawsuit; we went straight to the court of public opinion and the federal prosecutors.
For the past three years, Marcus had been quietly gathering evidence on Arthur Montgomery’s corporate dealings for a rival real estate firm. He had proof of systemic bribery of state officials, illegal offshore accounts used to fund political campaigns, and—most devastatingly—the fire report from Seattle.
Marcus had tracked down the retired arson investigator who had handled the case of Thomas Monroe's death. The investigator had kept copies of the original files, which showed that the "faulty space heater" had been planted after the fire had already started, and that Arthur Montgomery’s personal security firm had cleared the scene before the local police could complete their investigation.
At 10:00 a.m., we delivered the entire file to the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
At 11:00 a.m., a major national news outlet published a front-page exposé: The Gilded Cage: How Real Estate Mogul Arthur Montgomery Built an Empire on Arson, Bribery, and Family Secrets.
The article included the photos of the triplets, the original napkin from Seattle, and a signed affidavit from Maria De Souza detailing the emotional abuse and isolation Camila and the girls had suffered under Arthur’s roof.
By noon, the Montgomery corporate shares had dropped fifteen percent. By 2:00 p.m., federal agents entered the Montgomery Tower with search warrants.
But my battle wasn't in the stock market. It was at the penthouse.
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I drove my old, beat-up truck straight to the pre-war building on 5th Avenue. This time, the security guards in the lobby didn't stop me. They were too busy fielding calls from frantic corporate lawyers and watching the news broadcasts on the lobby monitors.
I took the elevator straight to the penthouse.
