Chapter 2 - THE BLACK DRIVE
Celeste closed her fist around the flash drive.
Nathan saw it too.
Their eyes met across the hall.
For one brief second, neither of them remembered the investigators watching.
“Give me that,” Nathan said.
Celeste laughed.
It was not her usual elegant laugh.
It sounded sharp and desperate.
“You said everything was destroyed.”
Nathan moved toward her.
An agent blocked him.
“What’s on the drive?” the investigator asked.
“Nothing,” Nathan snapped.
Celeste looked at him.
That single glance answered the question.
My father crouched beside me.
“Do you recognize it?”
“Yes.”
Six months earlier, I had found an encrypted reference inside one of Nathan’s hidden accounting folders.
Every questionable transfer was labeled with the same notation.
BM-7.
I never discovered what BM meant.
But the entries totaled more than eighty-six million dollars.
“Ask her about BM-7,” I whispered.
Dad stood.
“Ms. Monroe.”
Celeste froze.
“What is BM-7?”
Her face changed.
Nathan shouted before she could answer.
“She has no idea what you’re talking about.”
My father smiled slightly.
“Interesting.”
Nathan realized his mistake.
Dad continued.
“I asked her.”
Celeste’s breathing accelerated.
“I want an attorney.”
“You’ll have one.”
She extended the drive toward the investigator.
Then stopped.
“I want immunity.”
Nathan’s head snapped toward her.
“You selfish little—”
Agents restrained him before he reached her.
Celeste stared at the man she had once called brilliant.
The man for whom she had helped destroy my marriage.
The man who had promised her yachts, houses, private accounts, and a future built with stolen money.
“You told me you had protection,” she said.
“I do.”
Nathan struggled against the agents.
“My attorneys will have me out before breakfast.”
Celeste laughed again.
“You still don’t understand, do you?”
Nathan went silent.
She looked toward my father.
“BM stands for Black Meridian.”
The room changed instantly.
Even the federal investigator looked surprised.
My father’s expression became unreadable.
I had never heard the name before.
“What is Black Meridian?” I asked.
Dad did not answer me.
Celeste did.
“It was Nathan’s private network.”
Nathan shouted.
“Shut up!”
Celeste ignored him.
“Ghost vendors.”
“Shipping companies.”
“Customs brokers.”
“Banks.”
“Politicians.”
Each word landed harder than the last.
“It wasn’t only money laundering.”
My father stepped closer.
“What else?”
Celeste looked toward me.
Then at the flash drive.
“Cargo.”
A cold feeling moved through my stomach.
“What cargo?”
She swallowed.
“I don’t know everything.”
Nathan laughed bitterly.
“That’s convenient.”
Celeste turned on him.
“You never wanted me to know everything.”
Nathan stopped laughing.
She faced the investigator again.
“But I know where the manifests are.”
Dad looked toward the federal team.
“Where?”
Celeste closed her eyes.
“Port Langston.”
My father went completely still.
Nathan saw the recognition on his face.
And suddenly smiled.
“There it is.”
Dad turned toward him.
Nathan’s confidence returned for half a second.
“You know that name.”
My father said nothing.
Nathan’s smile widened.
“Maybe your family isn’t as clean as your daughter thinks.”
For the first time that night, I looked at my father and saw something I had never seen before.
Not fear.
May you like
Recognition.
And it terrified me.
