Chapter 13 - Twenty-Four Hours
Judge Harrison Bell had ruled on Callaway matters for more than twenty years.
He had approved trusts.
Settled property disputes.
Dismissed investigations.
Roman had always thought the repeated assignments were coincidence.
Now he knew better.
Mara spread the records across the table.
“Bell received payments through three consulting firms controlled by Silas.”
“Jonah discovered them.”
“Silas paid him for favorable rulings.”
Sophia looked at Roman.
“And tomorrow he decides whether I keep my son.”
Roman checked the time.
Eleven-fourteen at night.
Less than ten hours before court.
“Why didn’t you expose this sooner?”
Mara gave a bitter laugh.
“With what?”
“Photocopies made by my dead brother?”
“Bell would call them fabricated.”
“Silas would claim Jonah stole them.”
“I needed the original archive.”
Roman understood.
Gabriel’s activated trust could force the foundation archive into independent review.
That was why Silas had reacted so violently to his birth.
Not because Gabriel inherited billions.
Because Gabriel’s existence could unlock evidence capable of destroying Silas and everyone who had protected him.
Mara continued.
“There is a provision Vincent may not know about.”
“What?”
“If a minor heir’s financial interests conflict with the designated family protector, an independent fiduciary must be appointed.”
Sophia leaned forward.
“So if we prove Silas stole from the trust, he cannot control Gabriel.”
“Correct.”
Roman looked at the clock.
“Then we prove it before nine.”
Mara shook her head.
“We need one original transaction file.”
“Not a copy.”
“Where?”
“Silas keeps a private archive beneath the old Callaway Club.”
Roman knew the club.
It was a private members’ building founded by Dominic.
Politicians and executives had used it for decades.
Silas still maintained an apartment upstairs.
Sophia said, “Then that’s where he’ll expect us.”
“Yes.”
Roman looked at Mara.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
She hesitated.
“Silas knows I’m Jonah’s sister.”
Roman’s expression changed.
“Since when?”
“Yesterday.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
The answer arrived fifteen minutes later.
Mara received a video.
It showed Silas sitting in his study.
Behind him stood Judge Bell.
Silas spoke directly into the camera.
“Roman.”
“I assume Mara has finally introduced herself.”
Judge Bell smiled.
Silas continued.
“You want the original archive.”
“I want the warehouse ledger.”
“Midnight tomorrow.”
“One exchange.”
Roman stared at the screen.
Silas lifted another document.
It was a court order.
“If Sophia refuses voluntary protective custody for Gabriel, Judge Bell will sign this at nine-oh-five tomorrow morning.”
Sophia went pale.
Silas smiled.
“You have less than ten hours.”
The video ended.
Roman looked at Mara.
“Can Bell do that?”
“Legally?”
“No.”
“Practically?”
“He can try.”
Sophia picked up Gabriel.
Her fear was gone.
Something colder had replaced it.
“I’m going to court.”
Roman looked at her.
“Even knowing Bell is compromised?”
“Especially because Bell is compromised.”
Sophia turned toward Mara.
“Can we livestream a public hearing?”
“If the judge allows cameras.”
“He won’t.”
“Then we make sure reporters are outside.”
Roman understood what she was proposing.
Force Bell to act in public.
Force Silas to reveal himself.
Mara looked at Sophia with new respect.
“That may slow them.”
“It won’t stop them.”
Sophia kissed Gabriel’s forehead.
“We don’t need forever.”
“We need enough time for Roman to find the archive.”
Roman looked at her.
“You’re asking me to leave you in that courtroom.”
“I’m asking you to trust me to survive one room without you.”
Roman wanted to refuse.
Instead, he nodded.
At eight-fifty the next morning, Sophia walked into court carrying Gabriel.
Thirty reporters waited in the hallway.
At the same moment, Roman entered the basement of the Callaway Club.
He found Silas’s archive exactly where Mara said it would be.
The steel door was already open.
One light burned inside.
On the center table lay the original financial records.
Too easy.
Roman stepped closer.
Then the door slammed behind him.
Silas’s voice came through a ceiling speaker.
“You always were better at walking into traps than your brother.”
A timer illuminated above the archive shelves.
TEN MINUTES.
Roman looked around.
Smoke began seeping beneath the far wall.
May you like
Silas was not protecting the archive anymore.
He was burning it.
