Chapter 12 - THE MEN AT THE DOOR
Three men stepped from the SUV.
They were not police.
Michael locked the front door.
Willow called 911.
Lucas moved toward the back hallway.
“Where are you going?”
“They’re here for me.”
“Who?”
Lucas looked at her.
“People my father hired years ago.”
A fist struck the front door.
Willow’s blood ran cold.
Michael pulled her away from the entrance.
Lucas whispered.
“Richard used them to recover documents.”
“To intimidate auditors.”
“To scare former partners.”
Another blow struck the door.
Sirens sounded faintly in the distance.
The men outside heard them too.
Thirty seconds later, they were gone.
Police arrived.
One officer recognized Willow from the viral video.
She gave a statement about Lucas’s presence and the attempted entry.
Lucas surprised everyone.
He gave one too.
He named Richard.
By two in the morning, he was sitting at the kitchen table trembling.
Willow stared at him.
“Why now?”
Lucas rubbed his face.
“Because I spent my entire life believing my father was untouchable.”
“And today I watched his badge stop working.”
It was not courage.
But it was the first crack in his loyalty.
Lucas told them about a second account.
Raven Crest.
Money was moved there whenever Sterling subsidiaries needed to make problems disappear.
Private investigators.
Political consultants.
Threat payments.
Settlement money.
Even fabricated lawsuits.
“How much?”
Michael asked.
Lucas answered.
“Over two hundred million.”
Willow felt sick.
“Do you have proof?”
Lucas nodded.
“I kept copies.”
Richard had taught him never to trust anyone.
Eventually, Lucas had applied the lesson to Richard himself.
The copies were hidden in a private safe at a downtown club.
Lucas agreed to retrieve them with police escort.
Before leaving, he stopped beside Willow.
“There’s something else.”
She waited.
“The gallery accounts weren’t my idea.”
Willow stared.
“Whose?”
“My father’s.”
“But I agreed.”
“I signed off.”
“I told myself you would never notice.”
“And if you did, we would say you were confused.”
Willow felt tears fill her eyes.
Lucas continued.
“The gossip stories were mine.”
Amanda closed her eyes.
Lucas looked at Willow.
“I wanted a backup plan.”
She whispered.
“You were preparing to destroy me.”
He said nothing.
Willow nodded.
“Thank you.”
Lucas looked confused.
“For what?”
May you like
“For finally making divorce the easiest decision of my life.”
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