Chapter 11 - The Secret Ally
Late that evening, rain began to patter against the windows of Nathan's private residence in Pacific Heights. The mansion was quiet, far removed from the media storm raging outside. Nathan sat in his dimly lit study, staring at three monitors displaying corporate network graphs and encrypted financial ledger transactions.
His phone buzzed on the mahogany desk. The caller ID was marked: **UNKNOWN NUMBER.**
Nathan answered, placing it on speaker. 'Talk to me.'
'He's taking the bait,' a woman's sharp, confident voice came through the speaker.
It wasn't Maya. It wasn't his mother.
It was Sophia Vance—Audrey's estranged elder sister.
Unlike Audrey, who had spent her life chasing high-society luxury and easy money, Sophia was a fierce corporate litigator who had cut ties with her father, Charles Vance, five years ago after uncovering his illegal offshore smuggling operations.
'Charles just authorized a twenty-million-dollar transfer to a bank in Zurich,' Sophia reported, the typing of her keyboard audible in the background. 'He thinks Audrey's defense fund is going to buy off key witnesses in the federal case.'
'Is he trying to silence Audrey?' Nathan asked, leaning back in his leather chair.
'Of course he is,' Sophia said with a cold chuckle. 'Audrey knows where all of Charles's dummy corporations are hidden. If she cuts a plea deal with the federal prosecutors, Charles goes down for thirty years. He’s offering her a choice: take the fall alone and get fifty million in a Swiss account when she gets out, or talk and end up sleeping with the fishes.'
Nathan narrowed his eyes. 'And what is Audrey going to do?'
'Audrey is terrified,' Sophia said, her voice softening slightly with pity. 'She thought she was a master strategist, but she realized she was just a disposable pawn for our father. I visited her in the detention center tonight.'
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Nathan sat up straight. 'She talked to you?'
'She’s ready to turn on Charles,' Sophia revealed. 'But she needs a guarantee that she won't spend the rest of her life in maximum security. She wants a deal, Nathan. And she wants to talk to you directly.'
