Chapter 14 - THE NINE-MILLION-DOLLAR QUIET
The offer was nine million dollars in cash and a press release calling the Hope House investigation a misunderstanding. It arrived through a law firm that refused to disclose its client.
Elisa phoned an hour later. “You're making this harder than it has to be.”
“Did you send the offer?”
“I sent a way out.”
“For whom?”
“For everyone. Your donors want stability. The shelters need funding. You need your name out of a scandal.”
“And Carmen needs the truth.”
Elisa went silent. Then she said, “My father will bury you.”
“Not if you stop digging.”
Damon refused the offer. Jessica documented the contact for investigators and warned him not to turn the disagreement into a public spectacle before evidence had been secured.
That afternoon, she and Hannah met a city building inspector named Thomas Keene. Keene had no recollection of issuing the failed inspection used against Hope House. His official calendar placed him at another site that day.
“Someone copied my signature from an old report,” he said. “The document number isn't even in our series.”
“Will you put that in writing?” Jessica asked.
“Yes. And I'll say it in court.”
With those statements and the disputed deed, Jessica requested an emergency hearing to prevent Hope House from being transferred or closed while ownership was investigated.
The news reached Victor quickly. He called Damon from an unknown number.
“You were a frightened young man when I met you,” Victor said. “I gave you a seat at tables you couldn't enter on your own.”
“You helped me,” Damon said. “Then you used my trust to hurt people.”
“I taught you how the world works.”
“You taught me what happens when nobody says no.”
Victor breathed heavily into the receiver. “Tomorrow the judge will see what sort of businessman you really are.”
The call ended. Five minutes later, a reporter emailed Damon a sealed copy of an old lawsuit against his technology company.
May you like
On the cover someone had written: HIS MONEY WAS NEVER CLEAN.
