Chapter 7 - The Mastermind's Move
By Friday evening, the atmosphere across the city was thick with tension. Marcus Reed met me at a quiet diner near the base to deliver his final intelligence briefing.
"Arthur, Eleanor knows you're holding a winning hand," Marcus said, placing a flash drive on the table between us. "This drive contains the recorded phone call Marianne made, along with the certified banking ledgers from Panama proving Eleanor personally authorized the offshore transfers."
"Has she tried to contact the military board?" I asked, taking the drive.
"She tried," Marcus gritted his teeth. "She called General Sterling at the Pentagon, attempting to have you reassigned to an overseas post in Germany effective immediately, claiming you were suffering from 'combat fatigue and personal instability.'"
I let out a low, cold laugh. "She’s using her old political connections to exile me."
"Sterling turned her down flat," Marcus revealed, a grin breaking across his face. "When Harrison’s firm was flagged by federal investigators yesterday, Sterling realized you were executing an official internal investigation. He told your mother that military command would not interfere with federal fraud inquiries."
Eleanor was running out of moves. Her legal enforcer was compromised, her political favors had expired, and her financial assets were being monitored by federal authorities. All she had left was her social standing and the grand charity gala taking place the next evening at the Vance Manor.
"Are you bringing Marianne and Eli to the estate?" Marcus asked quietly.
"No," I replied firmly. "I won't subject them to that toxic environment. They will be protected at my home with a full military police guard. I will handle Eleanor and Harrison myself, in front of every person whose opinion she cares about."
"She built her whole life on prestige, Arthur," Marcus warned. "Stripping that away in front of two hundred elite guests will destroy her."
"She destroyed my family ten years ago to protect that prestige," I said, standing up from the booth. "It's time the bill came due."
I drove back to my house under the cover of a light rain. When I stepped inside, the house was quiet. I walked upstairs to the guest room where Eli and Owen were sleeping in twin beds.
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I pulled the blankets up over Eli’s shoulders, looking down at his peaceful face. He looked so much like Marianne, yet carried the exact same determination that had driven me through twenty years of military service.
I leaned down and whispered softly into the quiet room: "No more hiding, son. Tomorrow, everyone knows who you are."
