Chapter 8 - The Sister's Confession
The afternoon sun cast long, amber shadows across the holding room of the downtown county precinct. The air smelled of cold concrete, industrial disinfectant, and stale coffee.
Chloe sat at the small metal interview table, her designer handbag clutched tightly in her lap, her makeup slightly smeared around her red, swollen eyes. Gone was the arrogant socialite who had poured champagne at the lavish party a few nights ago. In her place was a terrified, cornered woman realizing she had hitched her wagon to a runaway train that had just derailed.
The heavy steel door swung open, and I walked into the room, closing the door firmly behind me.
Chloe flinched as I pulled out the metal chair opposite her and sat down. I rested my forearms on the cold steel table, staring at her in silence for several long seconds.
"Logan..." Chloe whimpered, her voice cracking as she tried to force a pathetic smile. "Logan, thank God. You have to help me. They're saying I'm facing felony accessory charges. They're saying I could go to prison for ten years! You're my brother... you wouldn't let that happen to your own flesh and blood, right?"
I didn't blink. I didn't move a muscle.
"Five years, Chloe," I said, my voice dangerously low and steady. "Every time I called home, every time I asked how Elena and Julian were doing, you looked me in the eye over video chat and lied through your teeth. You told me they were out shopping. You told me they were happy."
"Tyler told us to say that!" Chloe blurted out instantly, her self-preservation instinct overriding any familial loyalty. "He said if we didn't play along with the narrative, you would cut off our allowance! He said Elena was unstable and ruining your career!"
"And the storage shed?" I asked, the temperature in the room dropping ten degrees. "Did Tyler tell you to put a padlock on the door? Did Tyler tell you to let my ten-year-old son eat boiled potatoes in the dark while you threw parties with my money?"
Chloe shrank back into her chair, trembling visibly under the weight of my gaze. "We... we didn't want them to escape and ruin the merger! If you found out about the asset transfers before the forty-eight million cleared, everything would have collapsed! Tyler promised us a ten-million-dollar cut once the sale went through! He said we'd never have to worry about money again!"
A cold, mirless smile touched the corners of my mouth.
"Ten million dollars," I murmured softly. "You sold your own sister-in-law and your nephew down the river for a payday that never existed."
"What do you mean?" Chloe asked, frowning in sudden confusion, her tears momentarily pausing. "The merger went through! The money was in the escrow account!"
"The money was locked by federal asset forfeiture thirty minutes before the wire cleared," I replied smoothly. "And more importantly... did you really think Tyler was going to share ten million dollars with you and Mother?"
Chloe stared at me, the blood draining completely from her face. "What... what are you talking about?"
I pulled a single printed document from my jacket pocket and slid it across the metal table, letting it stop right in front of her hands.
Chloe looked down. Her trembling fingers picked up the paper. It was a copy of the secret indemnification clause Tyler had slipped into the Meridian Holdings trust agreement—the one Mark had uncovered in the offshore server logs.
"Read the fine print, Chloe," I instructed quietly.
Her eyes scanned the legal jargon, her lips moving silently as she processed the text. As she reached the bottom clause, her breath hitched, turning into a sharp, strangled gasp.
"No..." she whispered, shaking her head frantically. "No, this... this says Mother and I are listed as the sole corporate officers and primary liable parties for all fraudulent asset transfers. It says Tyler holds zero legal liability."
"That's right," I nodded. "In the eyes of the federal prosecutors, you and Mother are the primary architects of the corporate fraud and unlawful confinement. Tyler structured the trust so that when the federal indictments came down, you two would take the fall, while he walked away with eighty-five percent of the corporate shares and zero paper trail."
Chloe dropped the paper as if it were burning hot, her chest heaving as silent, hysterical sobs shook her frame. "He... he lied to us. He swore we were partners. He said we were safe..."
"You were never partners, Chloe," I said, standing up from the metal chair and buttoning my jacket. "You were tools. Just like I was."
"Logan! Please!" Chloe screamed, lunging forward to grab my sleeve as I turned toward the door. "Please don't let them put me in prison! I'll tell the prosecutors everything! I'll sign an affidavit testifying against Tyler! I'll give you everything I have!"
I stopped, looking down at her hand gripping my sleeve before slowly pulling it away.
"Then make sure you tell the prosecutors the absolute truth," I said coldly. "Because that’s the only thing standing between you and a federal penitentiary."
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I pulled the heavy steel door open, walked out into the sterile hallway, and left her crying alone in the dark.
***
