Chapter 28 - The Broken Dynasty
While the financial empire of Aegis-Apex was crumbling under federal seizure warrants, the remnants of Sloan’s ex-family were disintegrating in the public square.
In the suburban county jail where Beatrice’s co-conspirators—her two adult sons, Kyle and Trevor, who had manned the auxiliary livestream cameras during the home invasion—were being processed, there was no high-priced legal defense waiting for them.
Sloan had severed every single monetary thread connecting her trust to the Vance extended family. The country club memberships, the luxury car leases, the paid-for suburban mortgages that Sloan’s late ex-husband had guilt-tripped her into maintaining "for family unity"—every single lease had been terminated forty-eight hours ago.
Kyle and Trevor Vance sat in an interrogation annex, wearing ill-fitting county jumpsuits, their hands cuffed to the steel table. On the other side of the table sat Detective Miller and Kieran.
"You don't understand, man!" Kyle yelled, his voice cracking with the petulant fury of a spoiled child who had never heard the word 'no' in his entire life. "My mom told us it was content! We were getting five hundred thousand impressions a minute! We had brand deals lined up with three energy drink companies! You can't charge us with federal conspiracy for filming a prank!"
Kieran leaned across the table, his muscular frame casting a dark, suffocating shadow over the two young men. He pulled a heavy manila folder from his briefcase and slapped it down onto the metal surface. The sharp *thwack* made both boys jump out of their chairs.
"This is the transcript of the audio feed from your auxiliary mic, Kyle," Kieran said in a voice that was terrifyingly calm. "At minute marker three-point-four-two, when Veta collapsed onto the floor because you kicked her secondary battery pack across the room, do you know what your voice picked up?"
Kyle went dead silent, his lower lip beginning to tremble.
"You said: *'Keep recording, bro, her lips are turning blue, this thumbnail is gonna do ten million views.'*" Kieran leaned closer until his eyes were inches from Kyle’s face. "That isn't content, kid. That is premeditated, depraved-heart attempted manslaughter. In federal court, there is no parole for that. You will serve every single month of your fifteen-year sentence in a maximum-security penitentiary in Terre Haute."
Trevor burst into tears, burying his face in his cuffed hands, sobbing uncontrollably. "It was Mom! Mom told us we were getting paid! She said Sloan was a stingy bitch who wouldn't share Uncle David's money! She said if we destroyed the prototype, Uncle David's trust would have to liquidate and we'd all get our million-dollar payouts!"
"Your mother just signed a plea deal," Detective Miller said coldly, crossing his arms against his chest. "And in exchange for not spending the rest of her natural life in an orange jumpsuit, she gave us you two. She swore under oath that the physical destruction of the life-support manifold was your idea."
"What?!" Kyle screamed, standing up so violently that his chair tipped backward with a loud crash. "She lied! She’s our mother!"
"Your mother sold her niece’s air for three million dollars," Kieran said, standing up and closing the folder with finality. "Did you really think she wouldn't sell you two to save ten years of her own skin?"
As the guards dragged the screaming, sobbing brothers down the concrete corridor toward the holding cells, Kieran walked out of the precinct into the cool evening air. He pulled out his phone and dialed Sloan.
"The boys broke," Kieran said simply. "They confirmed Beatrice had direct communication with Sterling’s intermediary forty-eight hours prior to the raid. Every single link in the chain is welded shut. There is nowhere left for any of them to run."
May you like
On the other end of the line, Sloan’s voice was calm, serene, and profoundly steady. "Thank you, Kieran. Come back to the loft. Jonathan is drafting the foundation papers. We have work to do."
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