CHAPTER 5: FOLLOW THE MONEY
CHAPTER 5: FOLLOW THE MONEY
"Tell me everything."
My investigator nodded.
We sat inside a private conference room.
Stacks of documents covered the table.
Ryan Kane's financial records.
Or at least the ones we'd managed to obtain legally.
The investigator pointed to a series of transactions.
"These are strange."
I studied the numbers.
Millions of dollars.
Transferred repeatedly.
Different companies.
Different countries.
Different accounts.
"What am I looking at?"
He slid another file toward me.
"The companies don't exist."
I looked up.
"What?"
"They're fake."
A cold chill ran down my spine.
The investigator continued.
"We think Ryan has been moving money through shell corporations."
The room went quiet.
History repeating itself.
Just like Richard.
Only worse.
Because Ryan had learned from watching his father.
He knew exactly how to hide things.
Or at least he thought he did.
I leaned back.
"Can we prove it?"
The investigator smiled.
"We already did."
My eyebrows rose.
"What?"
He handed me a flash drive.
"Everything is here."
Bank records.
Emails.
Wire transfers.
Names.
Dates.
Evidence.
Enough evidence to destroy Ryan completely.
I stared at the flash drive.
Then my phone buzzed.
A message appeared.
Unknown number.
One photo.
Nothing else.
I opened it.
My blood turned cold.
It was a picture of my house.
Taken from across the street.
Another message arrived.
Back off.
The investigator looked at my face.
"What happened?"
I showed him the phone.
His expression changed immediately.
"That's a threat."
I nodded slowly.
Ryan was panicking.
Good.
Panicked people make mistakes.
That night I barely slept.
At 2 a.m., security cameras alerted my phone.
Motion detected.
Outside.
I checked the footage.
A black SUV sat across the street.
Watching.
Waiting.
My stomach twisted.
Then someone stepped out.
The image wasn't perfect.
But it was clear enough.
Ryan Kane.
Standing outside my home.
Watching my house in the middle of the night.
The next morning I walked into the office carrying the flash drive.
I intended to take it directly to federal investigators.
But when I opened my office door, I froze.
Someone was already inside.
Sitting in my chair.
Waiting for me.
Ryan Kane.
And he wasn't alone.
Because next to him sat a woman I hadn't seen in twenty years.
A woman I thought was dead.
May you like
My mother.
To Be Continued...
