Chapter 27 - The Mole in the Penthouse
The shock of Victor's final words hung over the Plaza ballroom like an executioner’s axe, but Phoebe did not allow her composure to shatter in front of the press. She waited until Victor was escorted from the building by federal agents for questioning regarding Raymond's kidnapping before turning to Ethan.
"Take me to my father," she said.
Two hours later, an armored SUV pulled up to the private helipad at the Harrell medical compound in Westchester. Raymond Harrell lay in a private intensive care suite, monitors beeping rhythmically, an IV line feeding fluids into his weathered arm.
When Phoebe entered the room, Raymond opened his heavy eyelids. Tears gathered in the corners of his eyes, cutting through the deep lines of his face.
"Phoebe..." he choked out, his voice weak. "Forgive me... forgive me, my child."
Phoebe pulled a chair beside his bed, taking his cold, trembling hand in hers. "Father, the mercenaries are in custody. Victor’s injunction has been thrown out of court. Harrell Global and Sterling are united. But I need the truth. I need to know about Saint Moritz. I need to know about Eleanor."
Raymond closed his eyes, a shudder wracking his frail chest.
"Thirty years ago," Raymond whispered, his memory traveling back to a time of unbearable betrayal. "Victor wasn't just my partner. He was my closest friend. And Eleanor... Eleanor loved our vision for the company. But Victor grew obsessed with power. He began funding illegal biogenetic patents through front companies in Eastern Europe."
"And my mother found out?" Phoebe asked, her heart aching.
"She found out," Raymond said, a tear spilling down his cheek. "She went to Zurich to blow the whistle. Victor followed her. He threatened to destroy her, to destroy everything. In Saint Moritz, Eleanor gave birth to you three weeks early due to the stress. Victor tried to seize the clinic. He wanted you as leverage to force Eleanor’s silence."
Raymond gripped Phoebe’s hand with surprising strength.
"I arrived with local authorities just as Victor set fire to the clinic wing to cover his tracks. I pulled you from the flames, Phoebe. Your mother survived the fire, but her lungs... her lungs were ruined. She spent the next five years in and out of sanitariums until she passed away. The plane crash in the Alps... it was Victor trying to escape the Swiss federal warrant. I didn't stage it. He faked his own death to avoid life imprisonment for attempted murder and arson."
Phoebe felt the crushing weight that had sat on her chest since sub-level four finally lift, replaced by a deep, righteous clarity.
"So the photograph..." Phoebe murmured.
"A lie," Raymond said fiercely. "Victor Daley never had a claim to you. You are Eleanor's daughter. You are my daughter. You carry the blood of builders, Phoebe, not thieves."
Ethan stepped into the room from the doorway, holding a secure tablet.
"Phoebe," Ethan said gently, though his expression was urgent. "The federal prosecutor just called. Victor Daley posted an emergency fifty-million-dollar cash bond through a Panamanian trust that wasn't on our asset freeze list. He's been released on house arrest to his historic townhome on 74th Street."
Raymond's heart monitor spiked. "He won't stay under house arrest! Victor never stays where he is put!"
"He won't have anywhere to run," Phoebe said, standing up, her eyes blazing with cold determination. "Because tonight, we cut off his oxygen completely."
"What are you going to do?" Raymond asked, looking at his daughter with a mixture of awe and fear.
"Victor built his entire ghost empire on the shadow accounts of Apex Strategy," Phoebe said. "He thinks he has fifty million left in Panama. He doesn't know that Marcus and the forensic accountants spent the last two hours tracing the routing numbers Arthur Pendelton carried in that duffel bag."
May you like
She turned to Ethan, her hand finding his. "Ethan, call the clearing banks. Trigger the international seizure order. By midnight, Victor Daley won't even have enough cash to pay for his townhome's electricity."
***
