Chapter 12 - The Billionaire Runs
Charles Voss left Pennsylvania that afternoon.
His private jet filed a flight plan for the Cayman Islands.
It never took off.
Federal agents arrived at the airport before boarding.
They did not arrest him.
Not yet.
They served warrants on three of his companies.
Voss smiled for the cameras.
"This is political theater."
Harrison watched the clip from his office.
Lena stood beside him.
"He looks comfortable."
"Powerful men always look comfortable before they learn the door locks from the outside."
Lena placed a folder on his desk.
"We found Samuel Grant."
Harrison looked up.
"Alive?"
"Very."
Samuel had been hiding in Vermont under his brother's name.
He agreed to return only after prosecutors offered witness protection.
Two days later, Harrison met him in a secure federal building.
Samuel looked thinner than his old company photograph.
His hands shook.
"I should've come forward sooner."
"Why didn't you?"
Samuel laughed bitterly.
"Because someone sent me photographs of my granddaughter walking to school."
Harrison said nothing.
Samuel continued.
"Richard started moving money almost two years ago."
"To Voss?"
"At first, I didn't know."
"Then I traced it."
"And?"
"Voss was funding Richard's takeover."
"Why?"
"The Mercer property."
Harrison leaned forward.
"How much money?"
"At least nineteen million moved through shell accounts."
"Khloe found 2.7."
"That was only one piece."
Samuel opened his bag.
Inside were handwritten ledgers.
"I copied everything before I left."
Harrison studied him.
"Why keep these?"
"Because if something happened to me, I wanted someone to know I wasn't a thief."
"You weren't."
"Richard told the board I was."
"That gets corrected."
Samuel's eyes filled.
"Thank you."
Harrison turned a page.
One payment stood out.
$350,000 to a company called Meridian Protective Services.
"What is this?"
Samuel shook his head.
"I don't know."
Lena researched it.
The company had no employees.
No real office.
But its registered manager had a criminal history involving intimidation and unlawful surveillance.
The same company owned the dark SUV used during the nursery break-in.
Harrison's jaw tightened.
Then Lena found another payment.
It was dated three days before the courthouse incident.
$75,000.
Recipient.
Caleb Morrison.
Richard's driver.
The prosecutor now had money, timing, motive, recorded admissions, forged documents, and witnesses.
Still, Harrison wanted more.
He wanted Voss.
Richard began negotiating.
His attorneys offered information in exchange for reduced charges.
The prosecutor listened.
Harrison did not interfere.
Three days later, Richard asked to see Khloe.
She refused.
Then he wrote her a letter.
Harrison brought it to her.
"You don't have to read it."
Khloe looked at the envelope.
"Open it."
He did.
Richard's letter began with an apology.
Then excuses.
He claimed Vanessa manipulated him.
He claimed Voss pressured him.
He claimed he never wanted Khloe hurt.
Khloe listened until Harrison reached the last paragraph.
I hope one day you can remember the man I was before all of this.
Khloe held out her hand.
Harrison gave her the letter.
She tore it in half.
Then again.
And again.
"The man he was?"
May you like
Her voice was quiet.
"The man he was stood at the top of those stairs and watched."
