Chapter 12 - The Collect Call from Cellblock Four
The sound of Margaret’s voice was like ice water dripping down my spine.
Yet, I did not allow my breathing to falter for even a fraction of a second.
"You are violating the terms of your pre-trial detention by contacting me, Margaret," I said in a calm, measured tone.
A dry, bitter laugh crackled through the static of the prison telephone line.
"The guards here know who I am, Clara," she sneered with unearned arrogance.
"A woman of my stature does not remain helpless for long."
"You took my son’s future, you took my mansion, and you humiliated my family in the press."
"Did you honestly believe Julian and I had put all our eggs in one basket?"
I walked over to my desk and pressed the record button on my secondary secure line.
"Your son Julian committed federal wire fraud and embezzlement," I answered coldly.
"The only thing I took from him was the illusion that he could steal my career to cover his incompetence."
"Keep talking, Clara, while you still have a title to hide behind," Margaret hissed.
"The money funding Aethelgard isn't just mine."
"It belongs to people who make your precious Robert Sterling look like a street vendor."
"My late husband built alliances you couldn't comprehend in your wildest dreams."
"They know about your grandfather’s old offshore accounts, Clara."
"They know what happened to the maritime trust fund in Geneva back in nineteen-ninety-four."
My hand tightened slightly around the edge of my glass desk.
My grandfather had been an honorable shipping merchant, but the final years before his passing had been marked by intense corporate rivalries that he had rarely spoken about.
Could Margaret truly have dug up something from three decades ago, or was this merely the desperate bluff of a disgraced socialite?
"If you had anything legitimate, Margaret, your lawyers would have filed it to keep you out of handcuffs," I replied steadily.
"Instead, you are sitting in a federal holding cell waiting for a plea bargain that will never come."
"Enjoy the telephone privileges while they last."
"Because after I file this call with the presiding judge, you won't even be allowed a quarter for the commissary."
Before she could spit another venomous threat, I disconnected the call.
My pulse was racing, not from fear, but from the sudden realization of what lay ahead.
Margaret was reckless, but she was not completely foolish.
She was a puppet string being pulled by an unseen player with far deeper pockets.
I summoned Rachel to my office immediately.
"Rachel, we need to run an exhaustive historical audit on my grandfather’s estate documents," I ordered.
"Find every shipping manifest, every bank deed, and every partner list from nineteen-ninety to nineteen-ninety-five."
Rachel looked startled by the urgency in my voice.
"Clara, what did she say to you?"
May you like
"She claims my grandfather had a secret," I said, gazing out over the city skyline.
"And whoever is bankrolling her hostile takeover believes that secret can destroy me."
