Chapter 4 - The Mask Shatters
“No,” Chloe screamed, her voice cracking into a high-pitched, wild screech. She lunged forward, knocking over a brass lamp, her acrylic nails reaching for my face. “You ruined my life! You stole my grandfather! You ugly, miserable little orphan, I should have let my father handle you back in college!”
Before she could touch me, the heavy wooden doors of the study swung open.
Three men stepped into the room. None of them were elderly estate guards. They were federal agents wearing navy windbreakers with golden letters emblazoned across the back: IRS-CID and FBI Financial Crimes.
“Ronald Montgomery? Chloe Montgomery?” the lead agent announced, flashing a badge with cold, bureaucratic efficiency. “Please step away from the desk and place your hands behind your back.”
Ronald backed up against the bookcase, his chest heaving, sweat pouring down the sides of his temples. “On what grounds? This is a civil family dispute! My attorneys will have you disbarred for trespassing on private property!”
“This isn't a civil dispute, Mr. Montgomery,” the agent replied, unholstering a pair of steel handcuffs. “Two hours ago, United States District Court Judge Miller signed federal arrest warrants charging you with sixteen counts of wire fraud, interstate racketeering, grand larceny, and the unauthorized laundering of forty-two million dollars through offshore shell entities in the Bahamas.”
The agent turned his steely gaze onto Chloe, whose face was completely drained of color.
“And Ms. Chloe Montgomery, you are being taken into custody as an unindicted co-conspirator for knowingly receiving stolen corporate disbursements under Blackwood Holdings, as well as two counts of criminal stalking under federal interstate surveillance statutes.”
“Stalking?” Chloe gasped, stumbling backward until her shoulder hit the wall. “I didn't stalk anyone! Hannah was my roommate! We were best friends!”
“Save it for the magistrate, Ms. Montgomery,” the second agent said, stepping forward and clicking the handcuffs over Chloe’s wrists with a sharp, metallic snap. “We have seven years of encrypted text logs between you and your father detailing daily tracking reports on Hannah Delgado, including the illegal wiretapping of her cell phone and the fraudulent interference with her university employment contracts.”
Chloe turned her head, looking at me with wild, streaming tears. For the first time in our friendship, there was no condescension in her eyes. There was only raw, desperate terror.
“Hannah!” she sobbed, struggling against the agent’s grip. “Hannah, please! You know me! I’m Chloe! I bought you that winter coat when you were freezing! I shared my groceries with you! Tell them to stop! Tell them this is a mistake! Hannah, please!”
I stood tall in the center of the grand study, the diamond band on my left ring finger catching the morning light. I looked at the girl who had spent six years smiling in my face while keeping my foot crushed under her boot.
“You bought me a coat so I wouldn't leave the city,” I said, my voice steady, calm, and devoid of hatred. “You shared groceries so I wouldn't have enough money to save for an apartment of my own. You didn't love me, Chloe. You just liked having an impoverished ghost in your shadow to make yourself feel like a queen.”
I turned my back on her, walking toward the fireplace.
“Take them away,” I told the agents.
Chloe screamed my name all the way down the marble hallway, her shrieks echoing through the stone arches until the heavy oak front doors slammed shut, cutting off the noise forever.
Silence descended upon the house once more—clean, pure, and unbroken.
Arthur walked over to the desk, leaning against the mahogany wood with a long, trembling exhale. The color was leaving his lips, his hand pressing firmly against his chest as his breath became shallow.
May you like
“Arthur!” I gasped, rushing to his side, catching him by the arm before he could stumble. “Sit down. I’m calling the ambulance right now!”
“No... no hospital,” he murmured, a faint, gentle smile touching his weathered lips as he looked at my face. “My doctor is already on the grounds, Hannah. The medicine... it can only buy hours, not years. But my work... my work is finally finished.”
