Chapter 1 – The Sky Falls
The first helicopter appeared less than four minutes after I ended the call.
Nathan Ashford looked toward the windows with an irritated smile.
"What is this?" he muttered.
His mistress, Vanessa, laughed as she dabbed imaginary dust from her silk dress.
"Probably another one of your investors."
I didn't answer.
Blood dripped from my wrists onto the marble floor.
Each breath felt like broken glass inside my ribs.
Then every phone in the room rang at once.
Nathan frowned.
His attorney.
His chief financial officer.
His private banker.
His board chairman.
The confidence on his face disappeared one call at a time.
"The Treasury froze our holding accounts..."
"Our offshore transfers have been flagged..."
"The board wants your resignation immediately..."
"The authorities are requesting every financial record from the last five years..."
Nathan's hand began to shake.
"No... that's impossible."
Outside, black SUVs rolled through the gates.
Not police.
Federal financial investigators.
Behind them came another convoy.
My father's.
Nathan slowly turned toward me.
"What did you do?"
I smiled through split lips.
"I stopped surviving."
"I started documenting."
The sapphire pendant around my neck blinked once.
Every second of the torture had already been uploaded to three encrypted servers.
Every confession.
Every order.
Every strike.
Nothing could ever be erased.
Nathan suddenly lunged toward me.
"Give me that pendant!"
Before he reached me, six security officers tackled him to the floor.
For the first time in our marriage...
May you like
Nathan Ashford heard the word he had forced so many others to hear.
"You're under arrest."
