Chapter 6 - My Mother’s Price
I recorded nothing.
Daniel had warned me not to conduct my own investigation.
So I told my mother to call her attorney and arrange a formal meeting.
She did.
The next afternoon, she entered a federal interview room looking twenty years older.
No pearls.
No tailored suit.
No confidence.
Only fear.
Her attorney sat beside her.
A federal investigator asked the first question.
“Did Michael Cross sign the will currently offered as his final testament?”
My mother shook her head.
“No.”
“Did you know the signature was false?”
“Yes.”
I stared at her through the observation glass.
The investigator continued.
“Why did you witness it?”
She looked down.
“Ryan came to me after Michael died.”
My chest tightened.
After Dad died.
The will had been fabricated after his death.
“He said Dad had intended to change everything.”
“Did you believe him?”
“I wanted to.”
That answer hurt more than a direct lie.
“Why?”
My mother cried quietly.
“Michael always trusted Claire more.”
There it was.
Not complicated.
Not noble.
Resentment.
She loved Ryan.
She believed Dad had underestimated him.
She believed giving him control would correct an old unfairness.
Nathan provided a signature page from another estate document.
They reproduced Dad’s signature.
My mother and Nathan falsely witnessed it.
Then Nathan adjusted the document date.
Ryan filed it.
“What did you receive?”
The investigator asked.
My mother closed her eyes.
“A trust worth twelve million.”
I felt something inside me go numb.
Twelve million dollars.
That was the price of my father’s final wishes.
The price of her testimony.
The price of helping erase me.
But then she said something unexpected.
“I never agreed to the military accusations.”
I nearly stood.
The investigator leaned closer.
“Explain.”
“Ryan told me Claire’s records were false.”
“You attended her military ceremonies.”
“He said those were ceremonial reserve programs.”
“That does not explain saying she never served.”
My mother began shaking.
“Nathan told me if I admitted Claire had been active duty, prosecutors would investigate the estate fraud.”
“So you committed perjury to hide another crime?”
Her attorney touched her arm.
My mother stared at the table.
“Yes.”
I looked away.
Daniel stood beside me.
“You okay?”
“No.”
It was the right answer.
I was not okay.
But I was finished protecting the idea of who my mother used to be.
Then the investigator asked about the eight-million-dollar transfer.
My mother’s face changed.
“I don’t know anything about that.”
“Did Michael discuss hidden companies?”
“No.”
“Did Ryan?”
“No.”
“Did Nathan?”
She hesitated.
Then nodded.
“One name.”
“What name?”
“Orion.”
Daniel immediately wrote it down.
I remembered my father’s final warning.
They’re moving money through hidden companies.
Not company.
Companies.
Halcyon was only the first.
May you like
And Orion was about to show us how much larger the theft really was.
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