Chapter 4 - The Billionaire Who Walked Into A Trap
The first threat arrived in the form of a black envelope.
No return address.
No stamp.
Just Ethan's name handwritten across the front.
Inside was one sheet of paper.
Stop asking questions about Northstar.
At the bottom was a photograph.
Grace leaving school.
Ethan stared at it.
He had seen worse threats in his legal career.
This one frightened him more.
Not because of himself.
Because of the child.
He immediately called the police.
Then he called the school.
Then he called Amanda.
"I want Grace home today."
"What happened?"
"Someone took a photograph of her."
Amanda went silent.
"I'll get her."
"I already sent security."
"You did what?"
"The man I trust will meet you at the school."
"Ethan, I can't afford—"
"This isn't about money."
"It always becomes about money with people like you."
He took that hit without defending himself.
"You're right."
Amanda paused.
"Thank you."
When she arrived at the school, Ethan was waiting outside.
His security team remained several feet away.
Grace ran toward her mother.
Then stopped.
"Why are those men here?"
"Because Mr. Carter is being careful," Amanda said.
Grace looked at Ethan.
"Did you make Santa mad?"
Ethan smiled sadly.
"No."
"Then why does everybody look scared?"
"Because grown-ups can make very bad choices."
Grace nodded as though she already knew this.
That afternoon, Ethan met with the federal fraud unit.
He gave them everything.
Documents.
Bank records.
Forged signatures.
The charity contracts.
The housing transfers.
The insurance fraud.
The photographs.
But they needed one more thing.
A direct connection.
A witness.
Someone willing to say what had happened.
Mrs. Henderson became that witness.
She brought them an audio recording.
"I made it after I realized they were changing the names."
On the recording, Principal Thomas Price could be heard saying:
"Remove the Williams girl. Her mother isn't cooperating."
A second voice asked:
"She doesn't have the processing fee."
"Then she doesn't get the gift."
Ethan closed his eyes.
That sentence would become evidence.
But it wasn't enough.
They needed Cole.
So Ethan did something dangerous.
He called him.
"I'd like to discuss Maple Street."
Cole laughed.
"I wondered when you'd come around."
"I'm not buying the building."
"Then you're wasting my time."
"You already know who I am."
"Of course."
"And you know what I'm investigating."
A pause.
"I think you're making assumptions."
"Then meet me."
"Where?"
"Your office."
Cole laughed again.
"I don't think that's wise."
Ethan's voice became cold.
"I wasn't asking."
Two hours later, Richard Cole walked into Ethan's conference room.
He was fifty-two, impeccably dressed, silver hair, expensive watch.
He smiled politely.
"Mr. Carter."
"Richard."
"I hear you're helping Amanda Williams."
"I am."
"She is a troubled woman."
"She's being evicted."
"The building requires renovation."
"It was listed as structurally sound eight months ago."
Cole's smile vanished.
"You have an impressive staff."
"I have good investigators."
"Do you know what happens when lawyers start treating suspicion like evidence?"
"Do you know what happens when criminals mistake lawyers for cowards?"
Silence.
Cole leaned forward.
"Careful."
Ethan smiled.
"You've already threatened a child."
"I have done no such thing."
"Someone photographed Grace."
"I have no idea who."
"Then you shouldn't mind if I subpoena every surveillance record connected to your company."
Cole stood.
"This conversation is over."
"No."
Ethan slid a document toward him.
"Not yet."
It was a bank transfer.
From Northstar.
To a private account.
The account belonged to Richard Cole.
Cole's face changed.
Ethan saw it.
And so did everyone watching from the adjoining room.
Federal agents.
Cole didn't know they were there.
"You stole money from families," Ethan said.
Cole's voice became quiet.
"You don't know what you're talking about."
"I know enough."
"You think your wealth protects you?"
"No."
Ethan leaned forward.
"The law does."
Cole stared at him.
Then he smiled.
"Your firm isn't as clean as you think."
Ethan's expression hardened.
"What does that mean?"
"Ask your senior partner."
Cole walked out.
Ethan stood still.
His senior partner.
A cold thought appeared.
Carter, Wells & Price.
The name on the building.
And one of those names was Thomas Price's uncle.
Ethan picked up his phone.
He called the firm's managing partner.
"John, I need you to answer one question."
"What?"
"Have we ever represented Northstar Administrative Services?"
Silence.
Too long.
"John."
"Years ago."
"Who handled it?"
Another silence.
"Your father."
Ethan stopped breathing.
His father had died six years earlier.
At home, Ethan opened the old family records.
He found the case.
His father had represented a company called Northstar Development Group.
Not Administrative Services.
Development.
But the shell companies connected.
The signatures.
The addresses.
The transfers.
Ethan suddenly realized something terrible.
His father's law office had unknowingly provided the legal framework for the fraud years before.
And somebody inside the firm had continued using old client information.
Someone with access.
Someone with motive.
He called Marcus.
"Check every employee who accessed the Northstar files in the last three years."
Marcus answered immediately.
"Why?"
"Because we may have a problem inside the firm."
Two hours later, Marcus sent one name.
Ethan stared at the screen.
Daniel Williams.
Not the dead husband.
Another person.
Daniel Williams Jr.
A clerk at the firm.
Ethan frowned.
He called HR.
"How long has Daniel Williams Jr. worked here?"
"Four years."
His heart dropped.
"What department?"
"Records."
Ethan stood.
"Get him out of the building."
Too late.
The records room was empty.
The computer had been wiped.
The access logs were gone.
And on Ethan's desk lay another envelope.
May you like
This time it contained only one sentence.
You should have left Grace alone.
