Chapter 3: The Empire Cracks
The next morning, federal agents raided six properties connected to Nathan's network.
News helicopters filled the skies over Washington.
Claire sat in my kitchen wrapped in a blanket, staring at the television.
Every channel carried the same headline.
FEDERAL INVESTIGATION TARGETS VALE LOGISTICS.
Agent Marcus Bell arrived shortly after sunrise.
He placed a thick file on my table.
"Your daughter wasn't his only victim."
Claire looked up.
Bell opened the folder.
Inside were photographs.
Women.
Employees.
Former assistants.
Accountants.
Several showed injuries.
Several had disappeared after attempting to testify.
Claire covered her mouth.
"Oh God..."
Bell nodded.
"For years, Nathan bought silence."
I watched my daughter's face change.
The fear was still there.
But something else appeared beside it.
Anger.
Real anger.
The kind that survives after terror dies.
Then Bell slid another document across the table.
A financial report.
"Judge, we found something unusual."
I scanned the page.
Millions of dollars had vanished from Nathan's offshore accounts over the previous month.
"Where did it go?"
Bell pointed to a name.
Claire froze.
So did I.
The beneficiary wasn't Nathan.
It wasn't one of his shell companies.
It was his younger brother.
Daniel Vale.
The brother Nathan had publicly claimed died in a boating accident six years earlier.
Bell's voice dropped.
"We believe Daniel is alive."
The room fell silent.
Because if Daniel was alive...
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Then Nathan had lied about far more than money.
And someone hidden in the shadows was preparing to betray him.
