Chapter 14 - The Unknown Call**
Daniel was arrested within the hour.
Charges: domestic assault, witness intimidation, and pending arson and fraud investigations. Bail was set high—half a million dollars, with conditions: no contact, no travel outside the state, surrender all passports.
He posted bail before dawn.
"How?" I said when Eleanor told me. "He has no access to funds."
"That’s what concerns me," she said. "Payment came from an offshore account. Traces back to… unclear sources."
"Lang?"
"Not directly. But the same network that funded his hostile bid appears to be involved."
I sat at the kitchen table, Vanessa’s signed statement spread before me.
"He has help," I said. "Someone with resources. Someone who doesn’t want him talking."
"Which means someone else is at risk if he does," Eleanor said. "Someone higher up."
My phone rang. Not Daniel. A number I’d seen before—the one that sent the threats.
I answered.
"Claire Mercer."
The voice was low, modulated, unfamiliar.
"Drop the charges. Withdraw the statements. Walk away from the company. Today."
"Who is this?"
"Someone who wants this resolved quietly. Daniel is a symptom. Not the disease."
"And if I don’t?"
"Then things get difficult. For you. For your family. For the farm investigation."
"You’re threatening me."
"I’m advising you. To step back before you step on something you can’t move."
"Tell me who you are," I said.
Silence. Then:
"You’ll find out soon enough."
The line went dead.
I traced the call immediately. It bounced through seven countries. Untraceable.
But the voice… there was something familiar about it. A phrase, a cadence.
May you like
I pulled up the board member list. Sterling. Hale. Lang.
Lang had resigned. But he hadn’t vanished.
