Chapter 11 - Tyler's Secret Gamble
Two weeks after the courtroom downfall, Tyler hit rock bottom—and decided to drag someone else down with him.
With their family home foreclosed and their bank accounts locked by federal investigators, Tyler and Arthur had been forced to rent a cramped, rundown two-bedroom apartment on the industrial outskirts of town. Dad spent his days staring at the wall in clinical depression, while Tyler spent his nights plotting revenge from a dying laptop.
Unbeknownst to me, Tyler had been nursing a dangerous obsession. He believed that if he could somehow sabotage Haven & Pine’s upcoming national catalog launch with Vanguard Capital, I would be forced to crawl back to him for help or hush money.
On a quiet Tuesday evening, Lena called me at home. Her voice was frantic.
“Claire, you need to come down to the fulfillment center on Fourth Street immediately. The night shift manager just called me.”
“What happened? Is there a fire?”
“Worse. Someone broke into the primary digital server room and attempted to wipe the customer database and upload corrupted product pricing files just hours before our automated presses go live with the Vanguard partnership.”
My blood ran cold. “Did they catch whoever did it?”
“Security caught him on the loading dock cameras. It was Tyler.”
I grabbed my keys, my heart pounding with a mixture of disbelief and pure, unadulterated fury. For weeks, I had treated Tyler like an annoying gnat unworthy of my serious attention. But corporate sabotage was a felony.
When I arrived at the fulfillment center twenty minutes later, two local police cruisers were parked outside with their emergency lights flashing blue and red against the wet pavement.
Tyler was handcuffed against the hood of a patrol car, his face bruised and his designer jacket torn at the shoulder where one of our warehouse security guards had tackled him.
“Claire! Tell these idiots to let me go!” Tyler shrieked as I walked across the lot. “It was just a prank! I was just trying to teach you a lesson about family!”
I stopped three feet away from him, staring down at my younger brother with cold detachment.
“A prank, Tyler?” I asked quietly. “You broke into a secure commercial facility, attempted to destroy proprietary database records, and tampered with interstate commerce data.”
“You ruined our lives!” he sobbed, the tough-guy facade shattering completely into pathetic tears. “Dad has nothing! I have nothing! You’re living in a penthouse while we’re eating canned soup in a roach motel!”
“I didn’t ruin your life, Tyler. You did that by refusing to work a single honest day in your life, expecting everyone else to carry your weight.” I turned to the senior officer standing nearby. “Officer, we wish to press full charges with maximum sentencing enhancements for commercial trespass and data tampering.”
May you like
“You can’t do that! I’m your brother!” Tyler screamed as the officer shoved him into the back of the cruiser.
“That,” I said, turning away as the door slammed shut, “is the exact reason why you’re going to federal prison.”
