Chapter 6 - The Unraveling Family
By noon on New Year's Day, the media wildfire had ignited across the tri-state area.
On the television in Marisol’s kitchen, breaking news banners flashed across the bottom of the screen:
**FEDERAL RAID AT HALE GLOBAL LOGISTICS HEADQUARTERS; MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR FRAUD AND MARITIME CONTRABAND PROBE UNVEILED.**
Footage showed federal agents in windbreakers carrying dozens of banker’s boxes out of Victor’s high-rise glass headquarters in Jersey City. A separate camera crew stood outside the Ridgewood house, filming two unmarked black sedans parked in my parents’ driveway while agents loaded my father’s desktop towers and file cabinets into the trunk.
Then came the clip that made my heart leap into my throat: Victor Hale walking out of his corporate offices, surrounded by a phalanx of private attorneys and security guards. His tailored overcoat was unbuttoned, his jaw clenched, his face a mask of incandescent fury. When a reporter thrust a microphone into his face asking about allegations of maritime smuggling and spousal abuse, Victor shoved the microphone away and hissed, "My wife is an unstable woman being manipulated by disbarred extortionists. We will resolve this in family court."
"He’s desperate," Marisol observed, sipping black coffee beside me. "His corporate credit lines were frozen by Chase Manhattan two hours ago. The board of directors is convening an emergency session at three o'clock to vote on his immediate removal as CEO. His money is drying up like water on hot pavement."
Suddenly, the front door buzzer of the safehouse intercom chimed.
I froze, instinctively pulling Lily behind my legs.
Marisol checked the security monitor by the door. A silver Honda Civic was parked at the gate—my brother Daniel's car.
"How did he find this place?" I gasped, panic seizing my throat.
"He didn't find it on his own," Marisol said grimly, looking at the screen. "Look who’s in the passenger seat."
It was Elena. My mother.
Marisol pressed the intercom button. "State your business."
"Anna! Please! Open the gate!" my mother’s voice pleaded, crackling through the small speaker. "They let Daniel out on unsecured bond! But Victor’s men came to Daniel’s apartment! They threatened to kill him if he didn't find you! Please, Anna, we have nowhere else to go! The house in Ridgewood has police tape across the driveway!"
I walked to the monitor. Through the camera, I saw my mother standing in the Pennsylvania cold without a hat, her expensive designer coat clutching her frail shoulders, her eyes swollen and red. Behind her, Daniel leaned against the fender of his car, shivering, his face pale and hollowed out by fear.
Seven days ago, Daniel had sat at the kitchen table, staring into his plate while our father ordered me back to an abuser, refusing to meet my eyes because his ninety-thousand-dollar salary was on the line.
Marisol looked at me. "Your call, Anna. We have private security stationed down the road. I can have state troopers here in five minutes to remove them for trespassing."
I looked down at Lily, who was happily coloring an elephant in her coloring book on the floor, completely oblivious to the monsters circling the perimeter.
May you like
"Let them in to the porch," I said quietly. "Not inside the house. Just the enclosed porch."
***
