Chapter 10 - The Trap
We returned to Atlanta under federal protection.
For the first time since this nightmare began, I felt like we weren't running.
We were waiting.
Robert had one goal.
Make Damian believe he still had a chance.
Because if he thought he was losing everything, he would disappear forever.
If he thought he could still win, he would come back.
And he did.
The message arrived at 2:13 a.m.
You have something that belongs to me.
Robert replied from an account investigators had created.
What do you want?
The answer came thirty seconds later.
My wife.
Chloe read the message.
“No.”
Robert shook his head.
“We aren't giving him anything.”
“Then what does he want?”
“Control.”
He typed:
What are you offering?
Damian responded:
The truth about Daniel Miller.
Chloe stared at the screen.
“He knows we're looking into Dad.”
“Yes.”
“What's he hiding?”
“We're going to find out.”
Damian proposed a meeting.
A warehouse near the Atlanta riverfront.
Midnight.
No police.
No lawyers.
Just Margaret and Chloe.
Robert immediately rejected it.
Then we made a different plan.
We would go.
But not alone.
Federal agents would surround the area.
Every conversation would be recorded.
Every entrance would be monitored.
At 11:48 p.m., Chloe and I entered the warehouse.
Damian stood beneath a single hanging light.
He looked exhausted.
But he smiled.
“Margaret.”
I didn't answer.
His eyes moved to Chloe.
“My wife.”
“She isn't your wife anymore.”
He laughed.
“You don't get to decide that.”
“She does.”
Chloe stepped forward.
“I do.”
For a moment, Damian looked surprised.
Then his smile returned.
“You've changed.”
“Yes.”
“Your mother poisoned you against me.”
“No.”
Chloe looked him directly in the eyes.
“You showed me who you were.”
His jaw tightened.
“You think these lawyers can save you?”
“No.”
She took a breath.
“I think the truth can.”
Damian reached into his coat.
He pulled out a folder.
“Your father wasn't the man you think he was.”
Chloe stared at him.
“Tell me.”
“Daniel stole money.”
Robert was listening through the surveillance system.
Damian continued.
“He betrayed Richard.”
“That's your version.”
“It's the truth.”
Chloe shook her head.
“Then prove it.”
Damian opened the folder.
Inside were bank records.
“This is what your father took.”
Robert examined the documents remotely.
Then he whispered through the communication system:
“Don't react.”
Damian looked at me.
“Margaret, your husband wasn't protecting you.”
“He was protecting his crime.”
I stepped forward.
“Then why did he leave evidence?”
Damian froze.
That was the first moment I saw uncertainty in his eyes.
“What evidence?”
I smiled.
“The recording.”
His expression changed.
“What recording?”
“The one where Richard admits everything.”
Damian went silent.
Chloe watched him.
“You knew about it.”
He didn't answer.
Then the warehouse doors opened.
Federal agents entered.
“Damian Prescott, step away from the table.”
His face changed completely.
He reached for something inside his coat.
Agents drew their weapons.
“Hands where we can see them!”
Damian raised his hands.
Slowly.
He looked at Chloe.
“This isn't over.”
She shook her head.
“It is.”
As agents placed handcuffs on him, Damian smiled.
“You think you won?”
Chloe said nothing.
He looked at me.
“You have no idea what Daniel did.”
I stepped closer.
“Then tell me.”
Damian's smile disappeared.
“He wasn't murdered because of Richard.”
I froze.
“He was murdered because of you.”
Then they took him away.
The warehouse became silent.
Robert approached.
“What did he mean?”
I couldn't answer.
But the investigators found something in Damian's folder.
A photograph.
Daniel standing beside our house.
Taken the morning he died.
On the back was written:
SHE WAS THE TARGET.
Me.
Not Daniel.
Me.
And suddenly I understood.
May you like
Maybe my husband's death hadn't been about money.
Maybe he'd died because he had tried to save me.
