Chapter 6 - The Price of the East Docks

By morning, Adrian had three lawyers in the library.

Not family lawyers.

Not men who owed the Voss name favors.

An outside criminal attorney.

A forensic accountant.

And a former federal prosecutor who now handled corporate investigations.

Thomas Arden would have hated all three.

That was probably why Adrian chose them.

Walter laid out everything.

The copied ledger.

Victor’s recording.

Samuel’s statement.

The Northlight invoices.

The notebook from Maine.

The lawyers did not gasp.

They asked dates.

Names.

Who touched what.

Where each item had been stored.

For six hours, the story became evidence.

That changed it.

Thomas was no longer a monster in the dark.

He was a man connected to payments, shell companies, a security chief, and a fire.

Still dangerous.

But measurable.

At two in the afternoon, the forensic accountant looked at Adrian.

“There’s a problem.”

Celeste gave a humorless laugh.

“Only one?”

The woman ignored her.

“Some of Victor Voss’s companies also paid Northlight.”

Adrian did not react.

Walter did.

“That can’t be right.”

“It is.”

She rotated the screen.

Payments from Victor.

Payments from Thomas.

Same company.

Same period.

Adrian stared.

“My father paid Malloy too.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

The accountant pointed to coded notes beside several transfers.

DOCK SECURITY.

LABOR.

QUIET.

Adrian leaned back.

“My father was paying him to control the unions.”

Walter’s face looked older.

Nobody argued.

Victor Voss had been many things.

Beloved father.

Powerful boss.

Man who ran into a burning warehouse.

Also a criminal.

Truth did not choose one version.

It kept all of them.

Celeste watched Adrian carefully.

He noticed.

“What?”

“I thought you would defend him.”

Adrian looked at his father’s ledger.

“I’ve spent nine years defending a dead man I didn’t fully know.”

He closed the book.

“I’m done.”

That evening, Thomas called.

Not Celeste.

Adrian.

He put the call on speaker.

Thomas sounded calm.

“Cancel whatever meeting you scheduled with outside counsel.”

Adrian smiled without warmth.

“How did you know?”

“You are not subtle when you’re angry.”

“Neither are your payments.”

A pause.

Then Thomas said, “Your father paid the same people.”

“I know.”

That silence was different.

Thomas had expected denial.

Adrian continued.

“I’m turning over everything.”

Celeste looked at him.

Thomas’s voice sharpened.

“You will destroy your own family.”

“If the truth can destroy it, maybe it deserves the damage.”

“You sound like Victor.”

Walter looked down.

Thomas laughed.

“That is not a compliment.”

Adrian’s hand tightened around the phone.

“Did you order the warehouse burned?”

Celeste closed her eyes.

Thomas waited too long.

Then said, “I ordered records removed from a building Victor had no business using.”

“That isn’t an answer.”

“It is the only one you get.”

“Did you pay Peter Malloy?”

Another pause.

“Yes.”

Celeste stopped breathing.

Adrian remained still.

“For what?”

“To know what your father was doing.”

“Did Malloy start the fire?”

Thomas’s voice cooled.

“Ask Malloy.”

The call ended.

No confession.

No miracle.

But the lawyers looked at one another.

The former prosecutor spoke first.

“He just confirmed the financial relationship.”

Adrian nodded.

“He knows that.”

“He also knows you recorded the call.”

Adrian looked at her.

“I didn’t.”

She held up her own phone.

“I did. New York is one-party consent.”

For the first time all day, Walter smiled.

Not because the case was solved.

Because somebody had finally planned ahead.

The accountants traced Northlight through two more shell companies.

One owned a warehouse lease in Queens.

Harbor Crown.

The same address from Victor’s note.

The attorney obtained an emergency preservation order before anyone visited.

No one could legally destroy the stored records without creating a second problem.

At nine that night, Adrian and I stood in the kitchen.

The house felt strange without party staff.

Without music.

Without the future everyone expected.

I made coffee.

He watched me.

“You should have left.”

I looked at him.

“When?”

“March. Tonight. Any of it.”

“You mean because people keep threatening the staff?”

His mouth tightened.

“Yes.”

I handed him the cup.

“Then stop deciding for me.”

He looked at it.

Then at me.

Walter had made the same mistake.

Celeste too.

Adrian understood.

“Fair.”

One word.

But it mattered.

The kitchen door opened.

Celeste entered.

She carried an envelope.

“My father sent this.”

Inside was a copy of a corporate resolution.

An emergency board meeting.

Voss-Arden Holdings.

Tomorrow.

Purpose:

Remove Adrian Voss as managing director for conduct damaging to the company.

Adrian read it twice.

Celeste whispered, “He’s going to take your company before you can take his freedom.”

Adrian folded the paper.

“No.”

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His voice was calm.

“He’s going to try.”