Chapter 7 - THE EMPIRE BUILT ON FALSE CHARITY
The memory card contained financial records.
Thousands of transactions.
Corporate accounts.
Foundation grants.
Shipping invoices.
And coded payments.
Agent Shaw's team spent days authenticating the files.
The results were devastating.
The Sterling Foundation had been used to conceal transfers connected to organized crime.
Several companies linked to the Vance family had participated.
Some executives had knowingly approved the transactions.
Others had been deceived.
Christian's father appeared repeatedly in the records.
So did Raymond Sloane.
And Victoria's father, Arthur Sterling.
But one name appeared more often than all the others.
A name Christian hadn't expected.
Gabriel Knox.
His security chief.
His closest friend.
The man who had protected him for fifteen years.
Christian stared at the report.
"No."
Rebecca watched him.
"The records are preliminary, but the pattern is significant."
Christian shook his head.
"Gabriel was seventeen when some of these transfers began."
"Then someone may have used his identity."
Christian looked up.
Rebecca continued.
"We need to investigate before drawing conclusions."
I watched Christian struggle.
For years, he'd trusted Gabriel with his life.
Now the evidence threatened that trust.
But I remembered my father.
The way he'd trusted the wrong people.
The price he'd paid.
"Christian," I said quietly.
He looked at me.
"Don't decide what the evidence means before you know."
He stared.
Then nodded.
"You're right."
He called Gabriel.
Asked him to meet with the investigators.
Gabriel arrived an hour later.
When Rebecca showed him the records, his face went pale.
He stared at the signatures.
Then whispered:
"That's my brother."
Silence.
Christian leaned forward.
"What?"
Gabriel looked at him.
"My older brother, Nathan."
Christian frowned.
"Nathan Knox died in 2012."
Gabriel shook his head.
"That's what we were told."
My stomach tightened.
Gabriel looked toward the records.
"He disappeared after working for Raymond Sloane."
Christian stared.
Gabriel continued.
"He used my name on documents before."
Rebecca leaned forward.
"Do you have evidence?"
Gabriel nodded slowly.
"Old letters. Bank records. I kept them."
Christian closed his eyes.
Another dead man who might not be dead.
Another identity stolen.
Another secret hidden beneath the wealth of Manhattan.
I looked at the photograph of my father.
Then at Christian.
The conspiracy was bigger than either of us had imagined.
And somewhere, Victoria Sterling was still free.
Waiting.
May you like
Watching.
Planning her next move.
