Chapter 4 - The Ledger in the Safe
The private study on the third floor of the Calder manor was a sanctuary of dark oak, leather-bound ledgers, and absolute discretion.
A massive fire of seasoned birch crackled in the limestone hearth, throwing long, amber ribbons across the Turkish carpets. Vincent sat behind his antique partner’s desk, reviewing a stack of shipping manifests for the port terminals in Red Hook, a glass of un-iced bourbon sitting untouched beside his laptop.
The heavy brass latch of the study door clicked.
Paul—the senior enforcer who had dragged Derek Lawson out of the diner—stepped into the room, holding a heavy, encrypted tactical tablet.
"Boss," Paul said, standing at attention near the doorway. "We cleared Raymond Fletcher’s motel room off Atlantic Avenue. Found his burner phone, three forged passports, and a letter addressed to a bail bondsman in Queens detailing his plan to track Maya down and force her to sign over the deed to her late mother’s cottage in Albany."
Vincent slowly raised his head. His slate-gray eyes were cold, hard, completely devoid of mercy.
"Did he destroy the deed?" Vincent asked.
"No, sir. It was in his breast pocket. We secured it," Paul replied, laying a plastic evidence bag containing the yellowed legal document onto the mahogany desk.
Vincent picked up the document, unfolding the stiff paper with his calloused fingers. It was the original property title to a modest, two-bedroom cottage nestled in the Catskill foothills—the only remaining physical inheritance Maya had from her mother before Raymond bled their family dry with his gambling debts and violent rages.
"He wanted to take the last piece of her mother’s memory," Vincent murmured, his voice dropping into a register that made Paul subtly shift his weight back toward the door.
"What are our instructions, Mr. Calder?"
"Transfer the title of the Albany cottage into an independent blind trust managed by my foundation," Vincent commanded, sliding the deed into a leather-bound folio. "Ensure the property is deeded permanently to Maya Calder—no, Maya Fletcher—use her legal birth certificate. Make sure it's un-seizable by any creditor, civil judgment, or domestic claimant."
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"Consider it done," Paul said. "And Raymond?"
"Bring him to the lower warehouse on the North River," Vincent said, standing up from his desk, buttoning his charcoal vest. "I’m going to have a brief conversation with him about property rights in the borough of Brooklyn."
