Chapter 5 - The Midnight Ultimatum
It took less than an hour for my phone to ring from an unknown number.
I let it ring three times before I swiped to answer.
“You’re bluffing,” David’s voice growled through the receiver.
I leaned back in my chair, a cold, humorless smile spreading across my face.
“Am I?” I asked smoothly.
“Account ending in 4409, registered under a shell corporation in Belize.”
I heard a sharp intake of breath on the other end of the line.
“If you send those files to the authorities, I’ll ensure your sister goes to prison for a very long time,” he threatened.
“She’s a co-signer on three of the fraudulent accounts.”
I let out a harsh, bitter laugh.
“Do you honestly think I care what happens to Sarah?” I shot back.
“She left my daughter stranded at an airport to help you rob me.”
“Throw her to the wolves, David.”
There was a long, tense silence on the line.
He hadn't expected me to be so ruthless, but he had severely underestimated a mother’s wrath.
“What do you want, Megan?” he finally asked, his tone shifting to a cautious negotiation.
“I want the original folder back, and I want you to sign the full settlement agreement I drafted last month,” I demanded.
“If you do that, I hand over the flash drive with the only digital copies, and I walk away.”
“And if I don't?” he challenged.
“Then I hit forward on an email drafted to the IRS, the FBI, and the SEC,” I replied.
“You have until midnight to meet me.”
He cursed loudly before agreeing to my terms.
“Pier 44, at the old shipping docks,” he snapped.
“Come alone, or I burn the folder.”
The line went dead.
I immediately dialed Detective Evans.
May you like
“He took the bait,” I said.
“Set up the sting.”
