Chapter 4 - The Threat At The Marina
By two in the afternoon, the temperature on the coast had climbed to eighty-five degrees, but inside my villa, the atmosphere felt sub-zero.
Carter called back with an urgent update.
"The Airbnb account has been frozen pending a full law enforcement inquiry," he said. "The eighty-thousand-dollar deposit was recalled from Kyle’s account, but there's a problem."
"What kind of problem?" I asked, pacing across my back deck overlooking the Atlantic.
"The money was already moved," Carter sighed. "Kyle used sixty grand this morning to pay off a high-interest lien on his excavator equipment, and Melissa pulled the remaining twenty in cash from an ATM inside Pelican Bay."
"So they're officially overdrawn and facing criminal conversion charges," I stated flatly.
"Worse for them, better for you," Carter said. "The bank has initiated an emergency clawback. If they don't replace those funds within forty-eight hours, the local prosecutor is issuing arrest warrants for wire fraud."
I hung up, grabbed my keys, and headed out to my private marina slip down the boardwalk.
I needed fresh air and salt spray to clear my head, but as soon as I rounded the corner of the public dock, I saw Kyle leaning against my boat slip railing.
He looked unkempt, his polo shirt wrinkled and his face flushed red with bourbon.
"You think you're pretty clever, don't you, Kendall?" he slurred, stepping forward to block my path.
"Step back, Kyle," I said, keeping my hands free and checking the distance between us. "You're violating the trespass warning Deputy Miller issued this morning."
"You ruined my life!" Kyle yelled, slamming his hand against the timber post.
"The bank just froze my business accounts! My crew is walking off the job site right now because their payroll bounced!"
"You ruined your own life when you spent stolen money on a company that was already bankrupt," I said coldly.
"Melissa told me you wouldn't care!" he shouted, stepping closer. "She said you had so many millions you wouldn't even notice fifty grand missing from your accounts!"
"Melissa lied to you. Just like she lies to everyone else."
Kyle reached into his jacket, his eyes wild with desperate, cornered aggression.
"You're going to call the bank and tell them it was an accounting mistake, or I swear to God—"
Before he could finish his threat, two uniformed harbor patrol officers stepped out from behind the harbormaster's office.
"Hands where we can see them, sir! Step away from the dock owner right now!"
Kyle froze, looking between me and the badges with sheer panic in his bloodshot eyes.
"I have this conversation recorded on my smartwatch, officers," I said calmly, holding up my wrist where the red recording dot was glowing.
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"He just attempted commercial extortion on private marine property."
The officers tackled Kyle to the wooden planks before he could even turn around, cuffing his wrists behind his back while he screamed curses into the salt air.
