Chapter 9 - The Brother Who Never Lost
Caleb stopped answering calls.
Grace expected that.
What she did not expect was Rebecca.
Caleb’s wife arrived at Grace’s home just after dawn.
No makeup.
Hair unbrushed.
Eyes swollen.
“I need to talk to you.”
Grace let her inside.
Rebecca looked at Lucy playing on the floor.
Then began crying.
“I think Caleb is in trouble.”
“Caleb put Ethan in prison.”
“I know what he testified.”
“That isn’t what I said.”
Rebecca stared.
Grace continued:
“He had Ethan’s laptop.”
Rebecca sat down slowly.
“I know.”
Grace froze.
“You knew?”
“I knew he took it.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“He told me he was helping.”
“What happened during those two days?”
Rebecca shook her head.
“I don’t know. He locked himself in his office.”
“Was anyone with him?”
Rebecca hesitated.
“Victor came over.”
Grace stopped breathing.
“To your house?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“The night Caleb brought the laptop home.”
Grace immediately called Rachel.
Rebecca continued.
“I thought it was work.”
“Did anyone else come?”
“A man I didn’t know.”
“Describe him.”
Forties.
Thin.
Gray jacket.
Rebecca remembered a company logo on his bag.
Aegis.
Grace and Rachel exchanged a look over speakerphone.
Someone from the cybersecurity contractor had been inside Caleb’s house with Ethan’s laptop.
“What happened afterward?” Grace asked.
“Caleb started drinking.”
“When?”
“That week.”
“Did he have money problems?”
Rebecca laughed bitterly.
“You don’t know?”
“No.”
Rebecca looked ashamed.
“Caleb lost money.”
“How much?”
“A lot.”
“Define a lot.”
“Maybe six hundred thousand.”
Grace stared.
“Gambling?”
“Options trading. Sports betting. Private loans.”
“How did he pay it?”
“I thought bonuses.”
Rachel’s voice came through the phone.
“Rebecca, do you have bank records?”
Caleb’s wife swallowed.
“Yes.”
They reviewed them that afternoon.
Three months before Ethan’s arrest, Caleb owed nearly $540,000 to lenders and private creditors.
Then the debts vanished.
A new company called Cedar Management LLC transferred $625,000 into an account Caleb controlled.
Cedar’s registered agent traced to a lawyer who worked for Victor Halston.
There it was.
Not proof of frame-up.
But a reason.
Caleb had been drowning.
Victor had thrown him a rope.
And tied it around Ethan’s neck.
Rebecca confronted Caleb that evening.
Grace was not present, but Rebecca later described it.
She placed the bank statement on their kitchen island.
“Tell me what Cedar is.”
Caleb stared.
“Where did you get this?”
“Tell me.”
“Business.”
“Victor paid your debts.”
“No.”
“Did you frame Ethan?”
Caleb exploded.
He swept a glass from the counter.
It shattered.
Their sixteen-year-old son heard.
Caleb immediately collapsed emotionally.
“No.”
Rebecca kept her distance.
“What did you do?”
“I didn’t create the fraud.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
Caleb sat.
“Victor said Ethan was going to destroy everything.”
“What does that mean?”
“Hundreds of jobs. Projects. Investors.”
“So?”
“He said Ethan had stolen company documents.”
“Did he?”
“He copied them.”
“Because the company was stealing.”
Caleb looked away.
Rebecca’s voice broke.
“What did you do to your brother?”
Caleb whispered:
“I gave them access.”
“To what?”
“His laptop.”
“What else?”
Silence.
“Caleb.”
“They needed someone the money could point to.”
Rebecca stared at the man she had married twenty years earlier.
“And you chose Ethan.”
Caleb shook his head.
“It wasn’t supposed to go this far.”
“What did you think would happen?”
“They said he’d take a plea.”
“How long?”
“Eighteen months.”
Rebecca nearly laughed from horror.
“You helped frame your brother because you thought he’d only lose eighteen months?”
Caleb covered his face.
“Victor said no one would believe Ethan against the records.”
Rebecca stepped backward.
“He was right.”
Caleb looked up.
“No.”
She shook her head.
“He was right about you.”
Rebecca left the house with the children.
But when Rachel asked Caleb to provide a sworn statement, he refused.
Victor still owned something inside him.
Fear.
Money.
Or another secret.
Before disappearing from the family home, Caleb sent Grace one text.
You have no idea how deep this goes.
Grace replied:
Then tell me.
Three dots appeared.
Disappeared.
Returned.
May you like
Finally:
Ask Victor what happened to the $23 million bond reserve.
