Chapter 6 - The Empty Vault
The Cedar Falls National Bank was closed for Christmas,
but for certain high-level investigations,
exceptions were made.
My father drove his old truck through the cleared streets,
with me and Lily in the back seat.
He stopped a block away from the bank's main branch.
We saw Carter’s SUV pull into the parking lot,
trailing smoke and sliding on the ice.
He jumped out and ran to the ATM,
his movements frantic.
I watched from the window of the truck as he shoved his card into the machine.
He waited.
He typed.
He waited again.
Then,
he slammed his fist against the screen.
"It's empty,
isn't it?"
I whispered.
"Not empty,"
my father said,
his voice devoid of emotion.
"Frozen."
"Every asset tied to the Miller name is currently under a 'suspicious activity' hold."
"I contacted a few old friends at the Treasury Department."
"Turns out,
the money he was laundering for those Chicago developers came from a source the government has been tracking for a decade."
"By associating with them,
Carter flagged himself as a national security risk."
"His assets aren't just tied up in a divorce;
they are property of the United States government now."
Carter turned away from the ATM,
looking like a man who had seen a ghost.
He looked around the empty parking lot,
the cold wind whipping his hair into a frenzy.
He looked pathetic.
The man who had stood in our foyer and told me I was nothing
was now standing in the cold,
penniless and alone.
His mother and Vanessa were still at the house,
likely being escorted to a bus station by the police.
"He’s going to call me,"
I said,
feeling my phone vibrate in my pocket.
"Don't answer,"
my father said.
"Let him leave a message."
"Let him put more evidence on the record."
I pulled out my phone and saw his name flashing on the screen.
'Carter'.
The man I had loved for five years.
The man who had fathered my child.
The man who had tried to kill me by proxy.
I let it go to voicemail.
A minute later,
the notification popped up.
I pressed play and put it on speaker.
"Clara!
You bitch!
What did you do?"
his voice screamed through the tiny speaker,
distorted by rage and fear.
"Tell your pathetic father to call off his friends!"
"I will ruin you!
I will take Lily and you’ll never see her again!"
"Do you hear me?
I’ll—"
The message cut off as he likely ran out of breath or realized people were watching.
My father took the phone from my hand and saved the recording.
"Threatening a witness,"
he noted.
May you like
"And child abduction threats."
"He’s making this very easy for us."
