Chapter 3
CHAPTER 3 — The Safe Haven
The interior of the Gulfstream was silent except for the steady hum of the jet engines. We were cruising at forty thousand feet, racing the sunrise back to New York. The children were exhausted, traumatized, and filthy. But they were safe. Emily had tucked them into the large leather sleeping berths at the back of the cabin. They were huddled together, dead to the world, wrapped in expensive cashmere blankets. Emily walked to the front of the cabin and collapsed into the seat across from me. She looked completely drained, the adrenaline finally leaving her system. "They're asleep," she whispered, rubbing her tired eyes. I poured a glass of water from the crystal carafe on the table and handed it to her. "Drink this," I said gently. She took it with shaking hands, taking a small sip before setting it down. "Nathan... what do we do now?" she asked, looking at me with absolute trust. "We can't go back to the mansion in Connecticut. Harold knows where we live." "He probably has people watching the gates." I leaned back in my seat, steepling my fingers together. "We aren't going to Connecticut," I replied. "I have a penthouse in Manhattan. The entire top floor of the Brooks Tower." "It has a private elevator, biometric locks, and bulletproof glass." "Marcus and his team will lock down the entire building. The children will be untouchable." Emily let out a long, shaky breath, closing her eyes. "I can't believe this is happening. I ruined your life, Nathan." "You didn't ruin anything," I said firmly, leaning forward and taking her hands in mine. "You gave me a family. You gave me a purpose beyond corporate acquisitions and stock prices." She opened her eyes, tears welling up again. "He's going to come for you, Nathan. He's your biggest investor." "If you cross him, he can pull his funding. He can destroy your company." I let out a dark, humorless laugh. "Emily, do you know why my company is so successful?" She shook her head slowly. "Because I know how to find the weak points in any structure," I explained. "Whether it's a failing business, a hostile takeover, or a corrupt billionaire." "Harold Pierce thinks his money makes him a god." "He forgot that I control the ledgers now." I pulled my laptop from my briefcase and opened it on the table between us. "While we were flying down to get you, I had my forensic accounting team hack into Pierce's holding companies." Emily stared at the screen, which was filled with endless lines of code and financial data. "What did you find?" she asked. "Pierce didn't just run one illegal coal mine," I said, pointing to a series of offshore accounts. "He's been running a massive money-laundering operation through his philanthropic foundations." "He takes dirty money from illegal mining and dumps it into fake charities." "My mother's charities," I added, a bitter taste in my mouth. Emily gasped. "Your mother is involved?" "No," I said quickly. "My mother is vain and arrogant, but she isn't a criminal." "Pierce has been using her. Using her reputation to wash his money." "When I expose him, he won't just lose his wealth. He'll go to federal prison for the rest of his life." Emily looked at the screen, then at me. "But he still has the ledger. The one he stole from me. He destroyed the evidence of my brother's murder." "He thinks he did," I corrected her. I typed a few keys, bringing up a digitized document on the screen. "I hired private investigators months ago, Emily. Ever since you told me the names of the children." She stared at me in shock. "You investigated me?" "I investigated the situation," I corrected gently. "I found the safety inspector who was bribed to ignore your brother's mine." "I paid him two million dollars to hand over his original notes and testify against Pierce." Emily covered her mouth, a sob escaping her throat. "You... you did that? For me?" "For David," I said softly. "For the children. For us." I closed the laptop and stood up, moving to the seat next to her. I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her against my chest. "By noon today, Harold Pierce will be utterly destroyed." "And tomorrow, we will file the paperwork to formally adopt Johnny, Paul, and Lily." Emily buried her face in my neck, crying softly, but this time, they were tears of immense relief. The sun began to peek over the horizon as the New York skyline came into view. A new day was breaking. And with it, a reckoning was coming.
