Chapter 4 — The Secret Ledger
The video changed everything.
Marcus now understood.
The attack wasn’t random.
The Sterlings had been hiding crimes for years.
Colonel Hayes helped Marcus investigate their financial records.
What they found shocked them.
Hidden accounts.
Illegal payments.
Bribes.
Threats.
A secret ledger documenting every person the Sterlings had controlled.
Judges.
Police officers.
Business owners.
Everyone who helped protect their empire.
But there was one problem.
The original ledger was missing.
Only copies existed.
Until Marcus found a clue.
A teenage boy named Ethan Collins.
A former Sterling employee’s son.
The boy had sent the encrypted video.
Marcus found him hiding in an abandoned cabin outside town.
“I thought they would kill me,” Ethan admitted.
“Why help me?”
The teenager looked down.
“Because I saw Lily.”
Marcus remained silent.
“I saw her begging them to stop.”
Ethan swallowed.
“And I saw her mother watching.”
The boy handed Marcus a small hard drive.
“They forgot about this.”
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Inside was the complete Sterling ledger.
The evidence that could destroy everything.
