Chapter 14 - The Glass on the Desk
A cold sweat broke across my forehead.
I stepped back from the wall, reaching into my jacket pocket for my phone to alert Marcus.
That was when the moonlight glinted off an object resting on the center of my mahogany desk.
My desk was always pristine.
Nothing remained on its leather blotter overnight except for an antique brass paperweight.
Now, sitting squarely in the middle, was a crystal glass filled halfway with single-malt scotch.
Beside the glass lay a white envelope sealed with blue wax.
My breath hitched in my chest.
I approached the desk slowly, every instinct screaming at me that I was being watched from the dark corners of the vast room.
The scotch was still swirling slightly against the glass.
The ice cubes were only half-melted.
Whoever had poured this drink had stood in this room less than five minutes ago.
I picked up the envelope.
The blue wax was stamped with an emblem I hadn't seen in over a decade: an owl perched upon an anchor.
The Ashford family crest.
I broke the brittle wax with my thumb and pulled out a single sheet of thick vellum paper.
The handwriting was sharp, elegant, and chillingly familiar.
*"Arthur,*
*You always possessed a magnificent mind for acquisitions, but a sentimental blindness when it came to blood.*
*Did you truly believe Julian had the intellect to hollow out five municipal pension funds without triggering a federal audit?*
*Julian was an arrogant clown dancing on strings.*
*He believed he was building an empire for himself.*
*In truth, he was merely clearing the board for the true inheritors of Vance Capital.*
*Elena knew the cost of this family’s legacy long before she took ill.*
*She signed the trust agreements willingly to preserve your life when the syndicate came to collect fifteen years ago.*
*Now that you have dragged the federal authorities into Peoria, you have voided the immunity clause.*
May you like
*Look out the window of your library, Arthur.*
*Look at the east gate."*
